The Italian Language

Today

Anna Laura Lepschy

Giulio Lepschy

NEW AMSTERDAM
Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
Chicago
Second edition published 1988 in the United States by
NEW AMSTERDAM BOOKS
C/O Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
1332 North Halsted Street, Chicago 60622
By arrangement with Century Hutchinson Ltd
@ Anna Laura Lepschy and Giulio Lepschy 1977, 1988
Printed in Great Britain

ISBN 0-941533-21-2 (cloth)

0-941533-22-0 (paperback)
Contents

Preface to the second edition

Preface
Part One The Linguistic Situation in Italy
I Italian Today
I1 A Historical View
111 Italian Dialects
IV Varieties of Italian
Part Two The Grammar of Italian
V An Outline
1 Phonology
2 Spelling
3 The article
4 Prepositions with the article
5 Conjunctions
6 Nouns and adjectives
7 Comparatives and superlatives
8 Adverbs
9 Personal pronouns
10 Possessives
11 Interrogatives and relatives
12 Negatives
13 Demonstratives
14 Indefinites
15 Numerals
16 Verbs
VI Sixteen Points of Syntax
1 Some notes on word order
2 The use of the article
3 Evaluative suffixes
4 Compound and juxtaposed nouns
4 Italian Language Today
5 Position of adjectives 190
6 Agreement of adjectives 192
7 Position of adverbs 194
8 Some constructions withtwithout prepositions 196
9 Agreement of past participles 209
10 Clitic clusters 212
11 Constructions with causative and perception predicates 214
12 The use of si 220
13 The use of indicative past tenses 228
14 The use of the subjunctive 232
15 Sequence of tenses 238
16 The use of the conditional 24 1
Short Bibliography
Table of main symbols used
Index
Preface to the second edition

In this second edition we have introduced many changes, based on

the experience gained through the use of the book since it was first
published ten years ago, on the comments made by numerous
colleagues who have used the first edition over the years, and on the
modifications made for the Italian version (La lingua italiana,
Bompiani, Milan, 1981) and for the German translation (Die
italienische Sprache, Narr, Tiibingen, and Francke, Bern, 1986). In
this second edition both chapters V and VI have one section more:
we have added a brief discussion of conjunctions, section 5 of
chapter V, and we have split section 10 of chapter VI into two:
clusters of unstressed pronouns (now section lo), and complex
sentences with causative or perception main predicates (now
section 11).
We hope in the near future to be able to respond to the requests
of several colleagues and to provide the book with an appendix of
progressive exercises which would facilitate its use as a course book
for beginners, suitable for class work and for self-teaching.
We gratefully acknowledge the many helpful suggestions made
by the German translator, Susanne Hagemann, and by other col-
leagues and friends: among those whose names should be added to
the list given at the end of the preface to the first edition we should
like to mention Paola Beninca, Pier Marco Bertinetto, Giovanni
Carsaniga, Sara Castelfranchi, Alan Freedman, Verina Jones,
Uberto Limentani, Yakov Malkiel, Gemma Momigliano, Howard
Moss, Enrico Palandri, Frank Palmer, Alfredo Stussi, Sebastiano
Timpanaro, and Shirley Vinall.
Preface

In this work we have tried to describe contemporary Italian and to

examine some aspects of its history which have often led people to
wonder whether an 'Italian' language really exists.
The first part of the book gives an introduction to the present day
linguistic situation in Italy (chapter I) and outlines its origin and its
development particularly during the last century (chapter 11); it sets
out historically the main subdivisions of the Italian dialects (chapter
111), and provides information on modern Italian and its varieties
(chapter IV).
The second part offers a grammar of Italian, including a
detailed examination of special points (chapter V), and a longer
discussion of certain questions which present particular problems to
students of Italian or are not adequately discussed in current gram-
mars (chapter VI). This part is organized as a reference grammar
and not as a progressive grammar, but we hope it may also prove
useful for those who are learning the language. Apart from the basic
outlines, our coverage is selective: we have concentrated on what
seems most interesting to us and have not tried to include the kind of
information which is easily found in dictionaries (we have not, for
instance, discussed in detail adverbs, conjunctions and preposi-
tions; but as dictionaries do not usually give adequate information
on constructions of verb + preposition, we have listed these quite
fully). We describe contemporary usage, but mention historical
developments wherever we feel they are illuminating.
The first part of the book should clarify and put into the right
perspective the assumptions on which the second part is based,
particularly with regard to standards of acceptability and correct-
ness. We aim at presenting educated Italian not as it is prescribed in
grammars and dictionaries, but as it is actually written and spoken.
For those aspects in which there does not seem to be a unitary
national standard, we have followed northern usage, which seems
8 Italian Language Today
to us to enjoy most prestige. We aim at enabling foreign students
to understand a wide range of expressions and to select those which
are most suitable for them to use, in speech or writing. Where neces-
sary we have characterized certain usages as formal or informal,
colloquial or literary, or typical of certain parts of the country.
Translations are given for all Italian and dialect examples, usually
offering only one of the possible meanings, not necessarily the most
common, but the one relevant to the point being made. Italics are
used for all the examples in traditional spelling in Italian (language
or dialects). Where necessary a broad phonetic transcription is
given (based on the principles of the International Phonetic
Association) between square brackets (see the Table of Symbols,
page 250). Only rarely has it been relevant to speak of phonemes
(phonological units which are distinctively different); phonemic
transcriptions appear between slants. Accent marks are placed
directly above the vowel rather than at the beginning of the syllable
because syllable divisions do not coincide in all varieties of Italian.
Marks for secondary stress appear below the line.
Although this book makes use of many notions of modem
linguistics, it is not written for linguists, and it adopts a traditional
grammatical framework, accessible to readers who have not studied
linguistics. Rules are given in an informal way. The formalism of
contemporary linguistics would have made them more precise and
explicit, but unusable by the non-linguist. In order to illustrate them
we sometimes inevitably make use of sentences which are not likely
to appear in everyday conversation.
The data and suggestions offered here, some of which are not
available elsewhere, should be of value to the linguist as well as to
those for whom this book is intended, students of Italian and others
interested in the Italian language.
We are very grateful to the following friends and colleagues
whose comments and suggestions on the first draft of this work have
enabled us to make many improvements to our text: Guglielmo
Cinque, Maria Corti, Denis Devereux, John Hale, John Lindon,
Peter Matthews, Luigi Meneghello, John Moores, Andrew Rad-
ford, John Scott, Peter Trudgill, Nigel Vincent. We should also like
to thank Drina Oldroyd for her helpful reading at proof stage.
Part One
The Linguistic Situation in Italy
 (Trieste)

Sardin~a

Sicily

D
 Italian Today

'The Italian language today': what is it? If one tried to be very

'scientific' and to provide an answer based on observation and
verifiable empirically, one would meet with considerable difficul-
ties. Students of linguistics from the University of Mars, sent to the
Earth to do some field work, and asked to write a report on the
Italian language today, would be faced with a very confusing situ-
ation. If they listened to the utterances made by people within the
boundaries of the Italian Republic, they would find an extraordi-
nary variety of speech, which could not be interpreted as belonging
to one and the same language ('Italian'). Then, if they extended
their investigations further they would find that some of the
varieties of speech used in Italy are also used by large communities
in other parts of the globe, ranging from Australia to the Americas,
and in European countries such as France, Switzerland, Germany,
and Belgium.
Their confusion would be caused not by the speech of the so-
called 'linguistic minorities' in the Italian territory (using German
for instance in the Alto Adige, and Albanian or Greek in parts of
southern Italy), but by the variety of dialects used both in Italy and
in the large Italian immigrant communities abroad.
It may be useful at this point to clarify some notions. The Italian
situation differs considerably from the English one, where dialects
are concerned. English dialects, with grammar, lexis and phonology
very different from standard English, are mostly dying out; they
survive in the main in isolated or peripheral areas, particularly in the
speech of the elderly. Elsewhere, especially in the south of England,
the differences between dialects and standard English are less
marked. Standard English is spoken with different accents in diffe-
rent parts of the country. There is also a non-regional pronuncia-
tion, generally indicated with the abbreviation 'RP' ('received
pronunciation'), which is typically used in public schools. During
12 Italian Language Today
the first half of the twentieth century its diffusion was encouraged
by a fairly strict a'dherence to it on the part of the BBC. It is a
flexible standard, in many cases offering a large variety of choices
between different pronunciations; and it changes as time passes.
This can be seen by looking up in Daniel Jones's and A.C.Gimson's
English Pronouncing Dictionary (which presents R P) the different
pronunciations recorded for so many words, and by comparing the
changes incorporated in successive editions. This dictionary was
meant to be descriptive rather than prescriptive, although it is often
used as a model to which foreigners and, when uncertain, some
native speakers of English try to conform.
R P , originally based on the speech of the educated in south-east
England, is a social rather than a geographical indicator: it charac-
terizes the educated speech of the upper and middle classes.
Traditionally, if speakers use R P people will not be able to tell
from their speech which part of the country they come from. If they
do not use R P not only will they be socially characterized, but to
this social characterization will be added a geographical one: people
will be able to tell which part of the country they come from. Eliza
Doolittle's speech could be pinned down to Lisson Grove; Profes-
sor Higgins, using R P, did not give away his place of origin.
It is against this background that one can understand recent
developments and reactions such as the greater use of regional
English by the B BC, or the tenacity with which some University
students retain their regional accents because of the ideological
implications of losing them: using R P would mean not so much sub-
stituting a national standard for a regional variety, as substituting
the speech of the middle class for the speech of the working class.
The class connotations of accent emerge very clearly in the field of
politics, trade-unionism, and in the media where it is not uncommon
to hear people adapting their accent to the circumstances.
The situation is quite different in Italy. People may of course be
characterized socially by the language they use, but it is a question
more of their style of speech, of the 'manner' in which they speak,
than of their phonological systems. The distinction between Italian
and dialect has no firm correlation with social hierarchy, because
although ignorance of Italian is limited to the bottom of the scale,
the use of dialect is not, and cuts right across class barriers. But it is
also true that Italian is inevitably associated with the upper part of
the scale and dialect with the lower, and that the attempt to move up
from the bottom is often accompanied by rejection of dialect and
 Italian Today 13
adoption of Italian.
When people talk of Italian dialects they are not usually referring
to different varieties of Italian. Italian dialects differ from literary
Italian and among themselves so much that one dialect may be
unintelligible to the speaker of another dialect. They may differ
among themselves as much as French differs from Spanish, or Por-
tuguese from Rumanian, or for that matter Italian from English.
The initial effect of strangeness, foreignness and unintelligibility
can be the same. The situation is of course different, because with
Italian dialects, which derive from Latin and have had some cultural
contact with literary Italian as it developed through the centuries,
the establishment of a basis for mutual understanding, the
identification of correspondence rules and the beginnings of a
translation and of a learning process are obviously so much easier.
Dialects in Italy are far more commonly used and differ from each
other and from the national language more radically than dialects in
England, and generally one can sharply distinguish between Italian
and dialect. The notions of Italian and of dialect, however, both
need to be specified.
It has recently been suggested' that, for some parts of Italy at
least, one needs to distinguish between four strata: besides (a) the
national language and (b) the local dialect there is (c) a more inward
looking variety of the national language (regional Italian); this is
comparable to the phenomenon very much alive in England, of
standard English spoken with a local accent; and (d) a more out-
ward looking variety of the local dialect (regional dialect).
Take a simple sentence like 'Go home, boys' as uttered in a vil-
lage in Venetia. The allegedly standard form in the national lan-
guage would be [andlte a kkhsa raglttsi] and in the local dialect
something like [ve klza thzi]. But in the same village people may
also use a less local, more regional Venetian form like [nde kiza
tbzi], and a less national, more regional Italian form like [andate a
kaza raghi].
In this example the lexical choice (ragazzo vs. toso) immediately
shows the distinction between Italian and dialect, and there are
grammatical and phonological differences which allow one to
differentiate quite clearly between the two types of dialect (local vs.
regional: with and without metaphony (see chapter 111, pp. 50-1)
and with different forms of andare) and the two types of Italian
(national vs. regional: with and without double consonants and
affricates [ts dz]).
14 Italian Language Today
Do these four strata in fact correspond to a fourfold choice
offered to the speaker? We deliberately chose a transcription which
was broad enough to show up those features which contribute to
distinguish the four varieties. But there is no polar opposition bet-
ween single and double consonants (a novelist with a keen ear for
language has noted that a speaker may try to pronounce a double
consonant, but succeed only in uttering one and a half)2, nor bet-
ween the affricates [ts dz] of the national and the sibilants [sz] of the
regional standard. Perhaps one can move between the two varieties
of the standard and the two varieties of the dialect with an indefinite
number of intermediate stages. Also, even though there is no inter-
mediate stage between toso and ragazzo, in considering actual
utterances, one finds that the various words of one and the same
utterance may have been chosen from different varieties. These
varieties are more easily definable in terms of the speakers' ling-
uistic situation than in terms of sets to which particular sentences or
words can be allotted. One might certainly hear [andhte a khza thzi]
and [ve k b a raghttsi]. One should perhaps leave open whether
these varieties are more appropriately considered to be distinct
entities between which one has to switch, or rather dimensions
which allow movements along continuous gradients.
It is doubtful whether the 'top' stratum, the alleged national stan-
dard as represented by educated Florentine, ought to appear at all
in this example. Florentine features, such as initial voiceless affri-
cates, as in [tsio], intervocalic voiceless sibilants as in [khsa], or syn-
tactic doubling as in [a kkhsa] are not used in actual fact in northern
Italy and do not even constitute a theoretical model which people
there try to imitate: they are felt to be either parochial and alien, or
affected. In Venetia there may however be a distinction between a
more dialectal use of Italian, with [raghsi], a less dialectal one, with
[raghtsi] and a more national one, with [raghttsi].
In a village the less local variety of the dialect might conform to a
regional standard or might be an attempt to imitate the dialect of the
nearest town. In a town like Venice people cannot switch from a
local to a regional form of the dialect; the regional standard and the
local dialect seem to coincide, and two rather than three or four
strata are sufficient to account for the linguistic conditions. The
number of strata which are involved ought to be decided instance by
instance, rather than once and for all.
In many cases the distinction between these poles may be made
more complicated by the presence of another distinction, between a
 Italian Today 15
spontaneous and informal vs. a careful and formal style of speech.
More complicated, because often (but by no means always or neces-
sarily) the spontaneous and informal is associated with dialect and
the careful and formal with Italian. An exclamation like Guarda che
roba! 'Look at that!' would be [gwirda ke rrdba] in the presumptive
standard and [virda ke rdba] in Venetian; the first word may
become [Arda] and [fda] in both, and may appear as [ h a ] and even
[a:] in the dialect. Within the dialect one finds, with decreasing
degrees of formality [andt], [nde], [de], and [ne] for 'go!'. A nar-
rower transcription would allow one to capture other pronuncia-
tions intermediate between these, and would correspond to the
natives' intuition that they are here faced more with a continuum
than with a set of discrete choices placing them either in the
language or in the dialect, either in one variety or in another. As we
said, the Martian linguist, trying to be scientific and to ascertain
facts rather than opinions, would have no easy task.
A foreigner learning Italian inevitably asks: what variety of Ita-
lian shall I adopt, and in particular what sort of pronunciation?
Which is the pronunciation that can be considered standard (in
some sense 'the best') and used as a model in the same way as R P
can be used as a model in British English?
The answer to the latter question is that there is no Italian equiva-
lent to RP. Educated pronunciation is not uniform but varies loc-
ally, it is more similar in each region to the uneducated pronuncia-
tion of the same region than to the educated pronunciation of other
regions. The normal, widely accepted state of affairs in Italy is for
speakers to retain their local accents. This situation is to be
expected in the context of Italian history. Italian is no less effective
for this (different pronunciations are no real cause for misunder-
standings); this variety reflects the different local traditions and
cultures which a united Italy has absorbed but not obliterated.
The former question - what pronunciation is a foreigner to
adopt? - can perhaps be answered depending on the circumstances,
with practical considerations in mind. In chapter V a solution is
offered which disregards the phonological oppositions which are
treated differently in different parts of Italy ( and therefore d o not
belong to a national standard), and chooses, when a choice has to be
made, a northern Italian standard, which has acquired more pre-
stige than other varieties. The choice of this phonological system
also facilitates the task of the foreign student as it is more faithfully
represented by traditional spelling.
16 Italian Language Today
It should be added here that t h s e points are contentious, and
that these two questions could receive different answers. In par-
ticular there is one position, usually adopted by textbooks and dic-
tionaries, which can be called, for brevity but not inappropriately,
puristic, according to which there is only one correct pronunciation
of Italian, i.e., educated Florentine, and it is this which ought to be
learnt by foreigners - and by Italians.

Cutting across geographical subdivisions (local varieties of Italian)

there is another set of partitions into different spheres of linguistic
usage (sectional varieties): the language of literature, of bureauc-
racy, of politics, of journalism, of advertising, of science, of the
church, etc. Newspapers, radio and television do not have a clearly
definable sectional idiom of their own; they act rather as channels
through which idioms of other fields reach a wider public.
The fields from which everyday language borrows most are sport
and advertising. Sport is followed with enormous enthusiasm. It has
been noted that only with reference to sport do some people who
are normally dialect speakers use Italian expressions, learnt from
sports commentators. As well as the sports pages in ordinary news-
papers, Italy has the privilege of having as many as four dailies
devoted entirely to sport. Readers often seem not to realize that the
hyperbolic style used by some sports writers corresponds to a very
special register, and repeat their baroque images in the wrong key,
as if they belonged to a neutral, unmarked stylistic level. Expres-
sions adopted by ordinary language from the field of sport
include for instance: mertere alle corde, seguire a ruota, salvarsi in
corner, prendere in contropiede (roughly translated 'to put into a tight
corner', 'to tail', 'to escape by the skin of one's teeth', 'to catch on
the wrong foot').
Advertising, in its attempt to persuade, manipulates language in a
very elaborate way, making use of the most refined rhetorical
techniques. Some advertisements strive to be memorable by their
unusual expressions (but mostly they popularize rather than inno-
vate), others try to impress themselves on the public's consciousness
(or perhaps on its subconscious) more surreptitiously, through a
smooth, colourless message presenting itself as artless rather than
drawing attention to its structure. It is very common for fragments
of advertisements to become set phrases: e.g., contro il logorio della
vita moderna 'against the stresses of modern life' (from the
advertisement for an apkritif), or seduce, seduce, seduce 'it seduces,
 Italian Today 17
seduces, seduces' (from a soap advertisement).
The media are traditionally the butt of puristic complaints: they
are accused of polluting the language with their lazy o r snobbish use
of foreign words and dialectalisms. They have however been among
the most important factors in spreading knowledge of Italian.
Rather than the use of foreign or dialect words, which may enliven
their language, it is their adherence to heavy and opaque formulas
that is to be deplored. They are full of the same sort of evasive
obscurity which marks the speeches of many Italian politicians, and
newspaper articles often appear to be addressed not to the general
public but to a highly sophisticated minority capable of reading bet-
ween the lines and of interpreting convoluted allusions. Even in the
more modest reporting of local events the freshness and authen-
ticity of spontaneous expressions is suppressed in favour of a limited
and dull inventory of stereotypes, a false idiom which Italo Calvino
has called an 'antilanguage', and has exemplified as follows. This is
what a witness might say:
Stamattina presto andauo in cantina ad accendere la stufa e ho
trovato tutti quei fiaschi di vino dietro la cassa del carbone. Ne ho
preso uno per bermelo a cena. Non ne sapeuo niente che la bottiglieria
di sopra era stata scassinata. 'Early this morning I went into the
cellar to light the boiler and I found all those bottles of wine behind
the coal-bin. I took one to have with my supper. I didn't know any-
thing about the wineshop above having been broken into.'
This is how an official takes it down on his typewriter: I1 sotto-
scritto, essendosi recato nelle prime ore antimeridiane nei locali dello
scantinato per eseguire l'auviamento dell'impianto termico, dichiara
d'essere casualmenre incorso nel rinuenimento di un quantitatiuo di
prodotti vinicoli, situati in posizione retrostante a1 recipiente adibito a1
contenimento del combustibile e di aver effettuato l'asportazione di
uno dei detti articoli nell'intento di consumarlo durance il pasto
pomeridiano, non essendo a conoscenza dell'avvenuta effrazione
dell'esercizio soprastante. 'The undersigned having descended in the
early hours of the morning to the basement rooms to set in motion
the heating installation, declares that he made the fortuitous dis-
covery of a quantity of vinicultural products situated to the rear of
the container of combustible material, and that he effected the
removal of one of the said articles with the intent of consuming it
during his evening meal, not being aware of the burglary which had
taken place in the commercial premises a b ~ v e . ' ~
The differences between sectional idioms are mainly apparent in
18 Italian Language Today
vocabulary, partly in syntax, and minimally in morphology.
Phonology is involved through the use of particular intonation pat-
terns which are considered to be appropriate to or typical of, for
instance, the reading aloud of poetry, the preaching of a sermon, the
presentation of a radio, television or cinema advertisement, or the
delivery used in reporting a football match. Usually the geo-
graphical subdivisions emerge through the sectional ones, and it is
only occasionally that the former are used as a further means of
sectional characterization because a southern accent, say, is thought
to typify the speech of a policeman or of a bureaucrat, o r a Lombard
accent a dynamic but philistine industrialist or businessman. For
instance in the song Ma mi . . . Ornella Vanoni switches from the
dialect of the protagonist, a character from the Milanese under-
world (mi son de quei che parlen no ['I'm one of those who don't
talk']), to the Italian, heavily southern in accent and grammar, of
the police inspector (noi li pigliasse . . . ma se parlasse . . . ['we'll
catch them . . . but if you were to talk. . .'I). But that is another story,
which is interesting for folklore as well as linguistics, i.e., the use of
mottoes, often abusive, in which Italians have traditionally incorpo-
rated their judgements of the inhabitants of other parts of Italy,
making fun of their speech characteristics.

Notes
'Cf. PELLEGRINI, G . B . , 'Tra lingua e dialetto in Italia', Studi Mediolatini e
Volgari, 8, 1960, pp. 137-1 53: 'L'italiano regionale', Cultura e Scuola,
n.5, 1962, pp. 20-29; 'Dal dialetto alla lingua (Esperienze di un veneto
settentrionale)' in Dal dialetto alla lingua. A tti del IX convegnoper gli studi
di linguistica Italiana, Turin, 1975, pp. 11-54). See also HOLTUS, G . and
RADTKE, E., eds., Varietatenlinguistik des Italienischen, Tiibingen, 1982. In
what follows we shall take examples from the Venetian situation with which
we are most closely acquainted.
=MENEGHELLO, L., Libera nos a malo, Milan, 1963, p. 212, and in the series
Oscar oro, Milan, 1986, p. 172.

3 ~ ~I., in~I1 Giorno,

~ ~ 3 February
~ o 1965 , (also in Unapietra sopra, Turin,
1980, p. 122); we quote from BALDELLI, I . , 'Aspetti della lingua della prosa
letteraria contemporanea', Cultura e Scuola, 11.18, 1966, pp. 15-16.
 A Historical View

What is the present day linguistic situation in Italy, and how did it
originate? During the Middle Ages the written language was Latin;
it was a literary language which could of course also be 'spoken', in
the Liturgy, in the Universities, on many formal occasions, and
would be employed in ordinary conversation by people whose
native tongues were different, but who were familiar with Latin and
could use it as an auxiliary language. This possibility would only
have been open to a tiny minority; most people were illiterate, and
hence, by definition one might say, did not know Latin. The
majority would use their own native tongue, the vernacular, that is,
one of the Italian dialects. These dialects derive from Latin; they are
spoken Latin as it evolved naturally, unaffected by schooling and
formal education, or, to be more precise, largely unaffected, as
some learned influences are in fact found in the development from
Latin to Romance.
Why did spoken Latin evolve so differently in different parts of
Italy? We do not know for certain. An often accepted explanation
uses the notion of substratum: the Italian dialects are Latin as
spoken by Celts, Veneti, Etruscans, Umbrians, Oscans, etc. In some
cases (Tuscan, Venetian, Sardinian) the development appears to
show little trace of the languages of the original inhabitants, perhaps
because these languages were radically different from Latin; in
other cases (most of the central and southern Italian dialects) the
substratum languages were less radically different and are alleged to
have influenced the development of Latin to a far greater extent.
The 'superstratum' is much less important; the Germanic invaders
(Goths, Longobards) and the foreign powers (Arab, Norman,
Spanish, French, Austrian) which dominated different parts of Italy
at various times left little trace on the language, apart from loan-
words; this is also the case with 'adstratum' influences, i.e., from
foreign linguistic communities with whom there was cultural con-
20 Italian Language Today
tact, like English or Slav.
The substratum theory appears tempting because modern
dialectal boundaries often basically coincide with the boundaries
between the different groups of the inhabitants of Italy before the
Roman conquests, and because some linguistic phenomena are the
same in the pre-Roman and in the post-Roman period; for instance
where Latin has nd Oscan has nn (Latin operandam corresponds to
Oscan ripsannam 'to be made') and the same applies t o the dialects
of Campania: Latin quando becomes Neapolitan [kwhnna] 'when'.
There is however the problem that one would have to suppose that
some of these substratum influences acted not at the moment
(which anyway is difficult to establish with precision) when Latin
was adopted, but after intervals, sometimes of centuries, and there
is the further problem of how the written documents relate to the
language which was actually spoken. The fact is that, in spite of the
achievements of comparative historical linguistics, particularly in
the field of Indo-European, it is still not known why languages
change, why certain changes occur rather than others, and why they
occur at a particular time in a particular place.
Another question which cannot be answered with certainty is:
when do the Romance languages, in our case the Italian dialects,
begin? According to some scholars (e.g., W. v. Wartburg) they
derive from different dialects of spoken Latin, and so can be traced
back t o the first centuries A.D. According to others (e.g., H.F.
Muller) they cannot have originated much before their earliest
written documents, that is, as late as the eighth century. In this case
the birth of Romance would date from the Carolingian renaissance,
brilliantly represented by Alcuin, which brought about a greater
correctness in the writing of Latin texts; a hiatus was thus intro-
duced between a purified Latin, closer to the classical language, and
much more 'vulgar' forms, which were now seen to be very different
from it and which precipitated into the vernacular.
What we have here is perhaps not so much a disagreement over
facts, as a choice between different points of view: if one looks at
individual changes one can trace many of them very far back, but if
one is searching for a natural break in the language development,
and wants to avoid imposing any artificial subdivision, then one will
have to look beyond the examples, to the actual speakers. One will
then say that the vernacular begins at the moment in which the
speakers become aware of the existence not of two different var-
ieties of the same language (classical vs. vulgar or literary vs.
 A Historical View 2 1
spoken), but of two different languages, one the vernacular,
acquired by all in infancy and used as everyday speech, the other
Latin, acquired only as a result of study and used as a literary lan-
guage. People may have been conscious of a bilingual situation even
before the first documents which have come down to us, but we
cannot prove it. The first attestations of this awareness come fairly
late: the Council of Tours, 813, in its seventeenth deliberation
stated 'ut easdem omelias quisque aperte transferre studeat in rus-
ticam romanam linguam aut thiotiscam, quo facilius cuncti possint
intellegere quae dicuntur' (that everyone should try to translate the
said homilies into the rustic Roman language or into German, so
that everyone may more easily understand what is being said), and
the Strasbourg Oaths of 842 are the first document of a Romance
language with the French (as well as the German) words of the oath
inserted in the Latin narrative.
In Italy evidence of the vernacular emerges later than in France.
In the ninth century we find texts which have vernacular
characteristics; in the following century we get several references to
the use of the vernacular in Italy: the poem Gesta Berengariirelates
that at the coronation of Berengarius I (915) the senate expressed
themselves 'patrio ore' 'in the language of the fathers' and the
people cried 'nativa voce' 'in their native tongue'. There is a refer-
ence to 'nostrae vulgaris linguae quae latinitati vicina est' 'our vulgar
language which is close to Latin' dating from 960; the epitaph of
Pope Gregory V (999) states that 'usus francisca vulgari et uoce
latina instituit populos eloquio triplici' 'by using French, the ver-
nacular and Latin he instructed the nations in three tongues'. The
first dated texts which present the two languages clearly disting-
uished in one and the same document go back to 960. For the
development of a literary vernacular we have to wait until the thir-
teenth century, when various works are produced in different parts
of Italy: Sicilian poetry, Umbrian religious texts, northern Italim
didactic poems, Bolognese and then Tuscan verse and prose. Are
they written in Italian dialects? The answer is 'yes' only if we accept
the use of the term 'dialect' for a period in which there was no stan-
dard national language to which the dialect could be opposed, and
in spite of the fact that these vernacular writings tended to be
'ennobled' and illustrious and to underplay their more parochial
features.
At the beginning of the fourteenth century, Dante provided in the
De Vulgari Eloquentia a critical survey of vernacular literature in
22 Italian Language Today
Italy up to his own day which is still valid now, and at the same time
he traced the first outline of Italian dialectology from the point of
view of a vernacular writer. The Florentine dialect in which Dante
wrote his Comedy became the basis of a national literary language
partly through the excellence of the literature written in it during
the fourteenth century, partly because of general historical
developments in Italy at the time (the political, economic and cul-
tural prestige of Florence) and partly on linguistic grounds, as the
Tuscan dialects were, not only geographically but also linguistically,
intermediate between north and south.
When the vernacular re-emerged, after a period of crisis during
the fifteenth century, when many humanists disparaged its use,
considering it uncouth, undignified and corrupt compared t o Latin,
it became the subject of the questione della lingua, a controversy
which was deeply felt, and far from being an idle rhetorical game,
had the most wide-ranging cultural and historical implications.
What sort of vernacular was best suited as a medium for literary
expression? Modern textbooks present a useful, though too
schematic, classification into four positions combining two pairs of
contrasting views, modernists vs. archaists, and Tuscanists vs.
Italianists: (1) those, like Bembo, who favoured archaic Tuscan, as
represented in particular by vernacular classics, Boccaccio for prose
and Petrarch for poetry: this language was t o be learnt through
study, just as Latin was t o be learnt through the imitation of such
classics as Virgil and Cicero; (2) those, like Machiavelli, Tolomei
and Gelli, who favoured modern Tuscan; (3) those, like Muzio, who
favoured an archaizing composite literary language; (4) those who
favoured a modern composite language, like the 'lingua cortigiana'
used by people from different parts of Italy at the main courts in
Rome, Urbino, Ferrara, etc.; this preference was expressed among
others by Trissino and Castiglione. The first position prevailed, and
Bembo's theories, defining a trend which was already implicit in the
development of Italian literature, were to mark Italian culture for
the next four centuries.
From the sixteenth century on, we find dialect literature proper,
in the modern sense. Here 'dialect' has quite a different connotation
from the one it had with reference to the thirteenth century. It is
now contrasted with a 'standard' literary language, and dialect texts
tend to underline, and not to underplay, their parochiality. A new
form of bilingualism is introduced into the vernacular, so that
during the sixteenth century Italian literature consists of works
 A Historical View 23
written in three mediums: in Latin, in the national literary language,
which is based on early Florentine but has different varieties, and in
a dialect, as for example Ruzzante's plays in Old Paduan and Ve-
neziano's poetry in Sicilian.
From then on literature in Italian followed a path of rhetorical
preoccupations, of aspiration to formal perfection and of detach-
ment from ordinary life. Authors did not write for the common
people, and the common people did not read works of literature, for
even if they were not illiterate they would find the style impenetr-
able. The first great dictionary devoted to any modern language was
the Italian Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca (first edition
1612). Largely through the influence of L. Salviati, the Crusca took
its inspiration from Bembo's theories. Its dictionary did not help to
make Italian more widely known or to get it adopted as a spoken
national language. It was based on a distinction between Tuscan
authors, mainly from the past, who were 'pure' and whose words
were to be included, and all the rest whose language was 'impure'
and so were excluded. The aim of the dictionary was not to present
the usage of writers and of cultured people objectively, but to pro-
vide the norm to which this minority should conform in their writ-
ings.
During the following centuries we find many restatements of
puristic principles (from Lionardo di Capua to Antonio Cesari and
Basilio Puoti), and rebellions against them, mainly by representa-
tives of new scientific movements and by thinkers open to European
ideas, above all French, who wanted to renew Italian culture, as for
example the Milanese group of I1 Caffc?, headed by the Verri
brothers.' It would be wrong to infer from prevailing post-romantic
attitudes (still current today) that purists were always reactionary
and wrong, and their enemies always progressive and right. Purism
might embody a patriotic attitude which in certain circumstances
could be progressive.'
How could a modern national literature flourish in these condi-
tions? How could one write novels in literary Italian? Manzoni
described his predicament with clarity: Italian was like a dead lan-
guage; he expressed himself spontaneously in the Milanese dialect
and found French a rich and versatile literary medium, but he could
hardly write a novel addressed to the Italian public either in
Milanese or in French. Manzoni turned the questione della lingua
upside down. H e did not want literature to decide what the national
language should be, he wanted literature to adopt the language
24 Italian Language Today
most suited to the conditions of the country. Writers ought not to try
to impose o n the nation the rhetorical and obsolete language of
Italian literature of the past; they ought to use a living idiom, one
that could become the national language, both written and spoken.
This could only be Florentine. Manzoni wrote his novel three times,
trying as best he could the third time (1840) to make it conform to
contemporary Florentine. H e did not fully succeed, partly because
his knowledge of Florentine was insufficient, partly because it is
difficult, perhaps impossible, to keep the language of the literary
tradition out of a work of literature.
For the first edition of I promessi sposi Manzoni used the
Milanese-Italian dictionary by Francesco Cherubini, looking for
Italian equivalents of the dialect words that came spontaneously to
his mind; but like other dialect dictionaries of the time, Cherubini
provided elaborate Crusca renderings for dialect expressions, and
their juxtaposition was sometimes incongruous and it had in many
cases an unintentionally comic effect, and Manzoni tried in vain to
convince Cherubini to adopt contemporary Florentine for the
second edition of his dictionary (1839) instead of the language of the
Crusca. Manzoni greatly overrated the importance of dictionaries; in
a report to the Minister of Education in 1868 (Dell'unita della linguae
dei mezzi di diffonderla 'On the Unity of Language and the Means
to Propagate it'), arguing for the adoption of contemporary spoken
Florentine as the national language, he maintained that the pre-
paration and diffusion of a dictionary of Florentine was the best way of
turning his theories into reality. The Novo vocabolario della lingua
italiana secondo l'uso di Firenze 'New dictionary of the Italian
language according to Florentine usage' was duly prepared under the
editorship of the ex-Minister himself, E. Broglio, and of Manzoni's
son-in-law, G.B. Giorgini, and was published between 1870and 1897.
Perhaps the lasting merit of the Nduo vocabolario is that the
publication of its first volume prompted G.1. Ascoli to write his
Proemio (1873). Ascoli, the greatest linguist Italy has ever had, and
one of the leading comparative philologists of his time, established
Italian dialectology on a scientific basis, writing and promoting a
large number of studies, many still unsurpassed today, which he
published in his journal, the Archivio Glottologico Ztaliano. His
Proemio, i.e., proem or introduction to the first volume of this
journal, is a concise and vigorously argued essay - almost a man-
ifesto - on Italy's linguistic problems. After political unification the
questione della lingua had re-emerged with a new urgency, and with
 A Historical View 25
practical implications previously absent.
Against the proposal that contemporary spoken Florentine
should be adopted by all Italians and that a main vehicle for its
diffusion should be a dictionary, Ascoli pointed out that this was not
the way national languages were formed. He drew his examples
from the linguistic history of France, England and Germany. In
France the dialect of Paris had become the national language,
through centuries of political, bureaucratic and cultural centraliza-
tion. In Germany it was not a local dialect, but the idiom used by
Luther in his translation of the Bible, that was the basis of the lan-
guage adopted by the whole nation, at all social levels, thanks to the
advance of literacy and the flowering of cultural and civic activities,
which, in spite of the lack of political unity, established close links
between all sections of the community. The Italian situation was
quite different: there was a literary language, developed by men of
letters for men of letters, which had never become truly national
and popular; there had been neither political centralization, as in
France and England, nor widespread cultural activity as in Ger-
many. Manzoni's choice of modern Florentine was quite arbitrary.
It was true of course that literary Italian was based on fourteenth-
century Florentine, but it had been shaped in the following cen-
turies by influences from other parts of Italy that had not affected
the dialect of Florence, which meanwhile had developed along its
own lines, quite differently from the literary language.
Why, asked Ascoli, should one introduce forms with o instead of
uo (such as Ndvo in the title of the Ndvo vocabolario) when the
accepted form in literary Italian had for centuries been the one with
the diphthong? The fact that modern Florentine preferred forms
without the diphthong was certainly not a good reason. Similarly
Florentine used anellofor 'thimble', while other dialects, both in the
north and in the south, used ditale, which was accepted as the Italian
word, and there was no reason for switching now to a Florentine
dialect form. In any case, the linguistic situation of a country could
not be changed by decree, nor by giving people a dictionary of the
dialect which was being proposed as a standard. The formation of a
national language was a complex historical phenomenon which
depended on social and cultural forces. Italian was a literary lan-
guage with elitist and formalistic characteristics deriving from
aspects of Italian civilization which Ascoli called 'cult of form' and
'low density of culture'.
Ascoli could clearly see, thanks both to his experience as a ling-
26 Italian Language Today
uist and his progressive ideological position, that to try to modify a
linguistic situation by making everyone learn the Florentine dialect,
in order to change the condition of the country (i.e., to make it a
really unified nation, at a deeper level than the political framework
of a unified state) was to go about things the wrong way. The forma-
tion of a unified language to be used in all parts of the country by all
classes, could only be the consequence of deep social and cultural
changes.
In accounts of the questione della lingua, it is traditional to set
Ascoli and Manzoni against each other as representing two extreme
positions: the one being that of 'pure science', which does not allow
interference with the natural development of language, the other
being perhaps over enthusiastic, but more practical, favouring con-
crete proposals to remedy the linguistic difficulties of the new Ita-
lian state; and subsequent developments in the history of the Italian
language are presented as corresponding partly to Manzoni's
aspirations, partly to Ascoli's forecast.
But this is rather misleading. In the first place Ascoli should not
be opposed to Manzoni: in spite of the seeming contrast in their
positions, one finds in both the same rejection of a rhetorical
approach to literature and culture and the adoption of a much more
sober and realistic attitude, which sees questions concerning lan-
guage and literature in terms of the society in which the language is
used and the literature produced, rather than vice versa. (In the
Proemio Ascoli finely characterized Manzoni's style and the effect it
was having on Italian culture: quel Grande, che t riuscito, con l'in-
finita potenza di una mano che non pare aver nervi, a estirpare dalle
lettere italiane, o dal cervello dell'ltalia, 1 'antichissimo cancro della
retorica 'that great man, who with the infinite power of a hand that
seems sinewless, has succeeded in eradicating from Italian letters,
or from the brain of Italy, the ancient canker of rhetoric'). In the
second place the position upheld in the Proemio turned out to be
right. The development of the Italian language followed the course
opened to it by Italian history, and particularly by the changes which
took place in Italian society, and not the course dictated by linguists,
or rather linguaioli , to use the Italian term indicating people who
assume that language ought to conform to their preferences.
The terms 'purist' and 'linguaiolo' have been used here as labels
to cover two outlooks which were in fact very different. For tradi-
tional purists the way to achieve correctness lay in imitating a set of
texts; according to the linguaioli who followed M a n ~ o n i it, ~lay in
 A Historical View 27
imitating contemporary Florentine. The opposition between these
two standpoints can be seen as a defence of authority versus usage.
Both authority (the classics) and usage (contemporary Floren-
tine) could be fused into a third approach where the subjective per-
sonal taste of the writer turned out to be the decisive factor. This is
clearly brought out in the preface to the Lessico della corrotta
italianitd (Milan, 1877) 'Lexicon of Corrupt Italian' by Fanfani and
Arlia. The argument that bad words may be found in good writers
elicits the retort: 'And so what? We respect authority (which helps
and strengthens our point) when it does not contrast with good
usage, i.e., with reason; but if it does, then, we say frankly, we are
not its slaves; we do not follow the ipse dixitas a last resort to silence
people, because this is true pedantry and may be a cover for abuse.'
'What about the usage of the people? Does it count for nothing?' 'It
counts and it doesn't . . . In this context one can only speak of Tus-
cans, because in Italy one can only speak of the usage of the Tuscan
people. Talk a little with the people of Florence, and you will see
that in many cases in the midst of the gold which comes out of their
mouths, there is much dross, much foreign rubbish.'
This intermediate position, which places the taste of the writer
above the authority of the classics and of contemporary Florentine
usage, was particularly widespread among Tuscans. Non-Tuscans
felt they were on unsure ground and were ready to admit that their
usage, however educated, fell short of certain standards of correct-
ness, which were thus assumed to depend not on educated usage but
on something quite external to it, i.e., the Tuscan norm. For
instance a philologist of the stature of F. D'Ovidio who was also a
member of the Crusca Academy, found himself in the ridiculous
situation of having to apologize for his Italian. H e had used in the
title of an essay (La rimenata di Guido) the word rimenata in the
sense of 'scolding'; when it was pointed out to him that this was a
southern regionalism, he commented not without irony: 'Now tell
me if I have not every reason to feel deeply ashamed. After having
spent so many hours of my long life studying our language, in Tus-
cany, in the classics, in dictionaries, and considering it under the
most varied aspects, and preaching against parochialisms - I find as
a permanent reproach, printed in a book which I have so carefully
polished, such a gross municipalism . .
In spite of the differences, these three attitudes share an extrinsic
view of language and a mistaken notion that it should be 'pure'. It
would be interesting, but would sidetrack us too far, to pinpoint the
28 Italian Language Today
precise ideological and political implications of the various posi-
tions in these linguistic debates. It seemed to be taken for granted
that the pollution of linguistic purity must come from external
sources; in the case of Italy from below (dialects) and from outside
(foreign languages, particularly French).
The fight against dialects was considered central to the educa-
tional process, because schoolchildren (and illiterate adults) in
learning Italian had to suppress the interference of the dialect,
which was their native tongue. Dialect dictionaries were published,
and also handbooks, mostly for the use of schools, which indicated
the main mistakes likely to be made in different regions by dialect
speakem5
Many dialectal usages were collected and criticized at the begin-
ning of this century by the then very popular writer E. D e Amicis,
whose Cuore was read by generation after generation of Italian
children. In 1905 De Amicis published L'idioma gentile, an urbane
and in many ways not unreasonable book, but on the whole superfi-
cial and banal in its view of Italian linguistic problems. Although
basically a Florentinist, the author was aware that this position
could be carried to an extreme, as appears from the anecdote which
he introduces into the preface of the second edition (1906), 'in
order to amuse my readers a little' and 'because it may be the object
of useful observations for those who study language'. As the purist
grammarian Raffaello Fornaciari had criticized the word scrosciare
('to describe the sound made by freshly baked bread between the
teeth'), De Amicis with the help of some learned friends had tried to
find out in Florence what the right word was, and his field work
produced the following list: croccare, scricchiolare, scricchiare, can-
tare, sgrigiolare, crocchiare, sgretolare, scricciolare, sgrigliolare, stri-
dere (leaving aside scrogiolare and sgricchiolare 'not heard by
anyone in Florence, but recorded with that meaning by dictionaries
of current usage'). One could certainly make 'useful observations'
on this, although they are likely to be different from those De
Amicis had in mind. Benedetto Croce, in a review of L'idiomo
gentile, had no difficulty in showing up the silliness of the book,
pointing out how affected it would be if he inserted Tuscan elements
into a piece of writing which, coming from him, was inevitably non-
Tuscan in its conception and whole texture; when talking of non-
Tuscans, Croce noted, 'the word "toscaneggiare" itself is mocking',
and he expressed the hope that De Amicis' book would be 'defi-
nitely the last manifestation of the questione della lingua'. This hope
 A Historical View 29
was too optimistic.
During the Fascist period there were severe puristic relapses. As
early as 1923 a tax was levied on foreign words used in shop signs,
and at the beginning of the second world war a law banned such
words altogether; a poster appeared with 'Ztaliani, boicottate Ie
parole straniere' 'boycott foreign words' (not untypically using the
verb boicottare, which etymological dictionaries trace back to c.
1880, deriving it, through French, from the English 'to boycott',
from the name of Captain James Boycott, first victim of this treat-
ment in Ireland). A Fascist law which prohibited the giving of
foreign Christian names to Italian children was abolished as late as
1966.6 In 1938 an official campaign was launched to abolish the Lei
form of address and instructions were accordingly given to members
of the Fascist Party and to all organizations directly and indirectly
controlled by the state. The expulsion of Lei from the Italian lan-
guage had been set in motion by an article published in the Corriere
della Sera of 15 January 1938 by Bruno Cicognani; this writer had
the honesty (or the nerve) to reprint it in the sixth volume of
his collected works in 1963 in a section called Amore di lingua
Italiana 'Love for the Italian Language': 'Today - I wrote in 1938 -
when Italy is driven towards a deeper consciousness of her true
being and a reconquest of her former greatness, let her accomplish
this too: the eradication and abolition of a usage which not only
clashes with grammatical and logical law, but is a speaking (one can
appropriately say) witness of centuries of servitude and abjection'.'
Italian purists have long delighted in preparing black lists, or
whole dictionaries, of proscribed words. In 1933 the journalist and
writer Paolo Monelli published a book, which was to enjoy
considerable popularity, with the revealing title Barbaro dominio.
Cinquecento esotismi esaminati, combattuti e banditi dalla lingua
con antichi e nuovi argomenti, storia ed etimologia delle parole e
aneddoti per svagare il lettore 'Barbarian Domination. Five hundred
foreign expressions examined, attacked and banished from the lan-
guage with old and new arguments, with the history and etymology
of the words and with anecdotes to entertain the reader'. By the
second edition, 1943, the 'esotismi' had grown to 650; in the preface
the author explains: 'This campaign was above all a question of
pride and dignity. Strong peoples impose their language, their
idioms, their abbreviations, they d o not pick up foreign rubbish with
ridiculous care. The pollution of language is usually the work of
people who are ignorant, presumptuous, slavish; this should be
30 Italian Language Today
enough to provoke reactions against it. There is no place any longer,
in a bold and confident Italy, for Balkan-style mumblers of foreign
syllables.' After 1945 English replaced French as the butt of the
purists. T o give one example, the same Paolo Monelli in a interview
printed in L'Espresso on 13 September 1970 commented on the
reporting of a scandal in which 'my newspaper [the Corriere della
Sera] did nothing but write killer killer killer. Then I sent this little
telegram to the editor: "May I humbly remind you that one who is
hired to kill in Italian is called a sicario." The following day the
newspaper put sicario in the title, but in inverted commas, as if it
were a strange word which needed to be explained to someone well
acquainted with the word "killer" ' (which was no doubt the case).
One could of course reverse the argument: the 'openness' of a
language, its ability to absorb foreign elements could be considered
a sign of its strength, of the confidence with which it is used. This can
apply to one's attitude towards dialects as well. The 'open door'
policy has found few explicit supporters where foreign elements are
involved, but where dialects are concerned the situation is different.
People like Ascoli did not want to pull out la malerba dialertale 'the
dialect weeds', but stressed the richness of the linguistic and cultural
traditions embodied in the dialects and the advantages that could be
derived, in the acquisition of the national language, from a com-
parison between dialect and Italian, underlining that, far from being
damaging, it was useful to have a situation of bilingualism, with
speakers fully fluent both in their own dialect and in the national
language. The educational reform of 1923, known as the riforma
Gentile from the name of the philosopher Giovanni Gentile, then
Minister of Education, harmful though it was in its undermining of
the position of grammar in the school system on the basis of a con-
fused notion of language as individual creation, did recognize the
importance of dialects as a spontaneous form of expression and as a
starting point in the educational process. But even this was of little
avail as under the Fascist regime, with its oppressively centralizing
attitude, there was a strong tendency to sweep dialects under the
carpet as if they were a national d i s g r a ~ e .When,
~ after 1945,
characters appeared in films and novels, using a language which
bore some resemblance to that actually used in Italy, purists were
very vocal in their complaints of 'dialect aggression' against the Ita-
lian language. Again, the argument could be reversed. If there was
aggression, it was against the dialects. A complaint that can be made
against Italian cultural development in the last hundred years is that
 A Historical View 3 1
it has done too little to spread the knowledge of Italian, and that the
little it has done cost an unnecessarily heavy price in terms of the
destruction of dialects and local cultures. It failed to bring about the
situation which some of the most progressive minds looked forward
to at the time of unification: a situation whereby the acquisition of a
national language both authentically popular and common to the
whole nation might be achieved not at the expense of the dialects,
but through their survival and fuller development.
In the cinema and in literature dialectal features are mostly used
for deliberate stylistic effects. One may recall the striking flavour of
reality in the succession of dialects as the Allies travel up from Sicily
in the six episodes of Rossellini's Paisd, the uncompromising,
sombre Sicilian of Visconti's La terra trema (which was unintellig-
ible on the mainland and had to be given an Italian commentary),
and the moderate Roman colouring of De Sica's Bicycle Thieves. In
the vulgar post-neorealist films the 'vernacular' is used for purposes
of characterization, for a narrow portrayal of Italian provincial life.
Fellini uses Romagnolo and Roman in his films as a powerful source
of evocation in the process of exploring his memories (even the title
Amarcord is effective; it means simply 'I remember' in Romagnolo,
but to an Italian audience it suggests the idea of bitterness, as well as
that of the heart, and has the sound of a mysterious formula like the
magic abracadabra). Pasolini makes original use of dialectal back-
ground in his Gospel according to Matthew, in which the disciples
speak with a southern accent, Caiphas speaks Tuscan, Salome
speaks like a little servant girl from the Veneto, and Christ speaks
with a polished 'non identifiable' stage accent, i.e., in a language
which, for Italy, is rather out of this world.
In literature it is rare to find an authentic picture of a dialectal
situation in all its complex cultural and psychological implications,
but a successful example is Libera nos a malo by L. Meneghello,
where the linguistic usages and attitudes of a Venetian mainland
village are presented with a mixture of affectionate participation
and ironically detached observation. It is more common to find
experiments such as those by Gadda and Pasolini (at opposite ends
of the spectrum), the former using an expressionist mixture of tech-
nical, literary and obsolete Italian, with elements culled from diffe-
rent dialects, in an attempt to produce extreme effects and reach a
heightened stylistic tension, and the latter aiming to reproduce, with
sometimes misleading precision and objectivity, the violent lan-
guage of boys who have grown up in the general deprivation and
32 Italian Language Today
linguistic Babel of the Roman outskirts. In the course of the 1960s
Pasolini found that he did not need any more to employ the stark
dialectal mixture of Ragazzi di vita (1955) and Una vita violenta
(1959) because something new had happened: 'in these last few
years' he announced in 1964 'Italian as a real national language has
come into being'. Its mewlings could be heard, he said, in the
'industrial triangle' (Turin-Milan-Genoa) and its model was the
usage of technocrats and bureaucrats (as exemplified, for instance,
in the speeches of the southern politician Aldo Moro); it is a thin,
bloodless language, well suited to the squalid neo-capitalist society
that uses it. I do not like it, said Pasolini, but there it is: Italy, for the
first time in its history, has a national language, and not just a
literary language confined to a minority.
These statements by Pasolini were widely discussed. A collection
of pieces variously related to them was published by 0 . Parlangeli
under the title La nuova questione della lingua (Brescia, 1971).
This may be related to a wider debate, mainly cultural and
ideological (centred round the so-called aoant-garde movements, le
avanguardie) in which linguistic questions are on the whole used as
pretexts or examples. Those who maintain the need for a revolutio-
nary struggle against language, which as part of the system is in the
service of the ruling class, claim for instance that repressive freedom
gives people the illusion that they can say whatever they want, thus
restricting the field of what they may want to say, to what can in fact
be said, and making them believe that what cannot be said in their
language, they d o not want to say. But their point is not very clear. Is
language taken as a human faculty (stunted perhaps in the interests
of the preservation of existing social structures), whose powers have
to be increased by rendering it capable of expressing the inexpres-
sible (in the sense, one imagines, of the student protest slogan 'be
realistic, ask for the impossible')? O r are they objecting to a par-
ticular language of culture with its unnecessarily complex rules,
'una lingua mandarina', a Mandarin language serving to prevent
those who do not master it (i.e., the working class) from raising
themselves socially and reaching positions of power? In the first
case the objection involves dialects as well as the national language;
in the second case there are two views: one held by those who con-
sider dialects the embodiment of an authentically popular working-
class culture and hence more suited than the national language to
express revolutionary feelings and ideals; the other by those who
see the dialects as the necessary counterpart of the standard lan-
 A Historical View 33
guage, as belonging to the same oppressive system: a Mandarin lan-
guage for the bourgeoisie and a second-class, primitive dialect for
the common people. In practical terms, the problem might be
whether a trade unionist should use the standard language to make
his point effectively at national level, or whether by doing so he
would inevitably be selling out, separating himself from the workers
he represents and playing the class enemy's game on the enemy's
terms.
All this however is more often discussed from the point of view of
literary experiments or of an abstract ideological debate. The isola-
tion of intellectuals from wider questions affecting the cultural
conditions of the whole nation has roots, as we have seen, going far
back in Italian history, and in its present form originates in the
thwarted social and political development which immediately fol-
lowed unification. The problems which both Manzoni and Ascoli
had seen in social terms rapidly sank to the level of rhetoric and
became once more the concern of a handful of authors whose only
public (the reading public) was a small minority of the Italian
population. In poetry we find the classical accents of Carducci's
rhetoric, and the affectations of D'Annunzio, drawn from French
decadents and early Italian authors. Major Italian prose writers
after Manzoni, like Verga, Svevo and Pirandello, still had to work in
a language which was not their everyday language and which they
had some difficulty in mastering; their writings reflect not so much
Italian usage as the problems inevitably faced by authors trying to
write Italian (but it is also true that the individual manner in which
each of them grappled with language is an essential element of their
achievement as writers). Most of the Italian literary movements of
the twentieth century, from the Futurists down to the Hermeticists,
the Neo-realists, the Neo-experimentalists and the Neo-avant-
garde down to our own day can be rightly seen as minority
phenomena, ineffectual on the level of popular culture. D e Mauro
sees the first ten years of this century (when there was considerable
social and political progress under Giolitti's administration) as a
turning point in the evolution of the Italian literary language,
marked in poetry by Pascoli's Canti di Castelvecchio and in prose by
Croce's Estetica. The change mainly concerns the attitude of writers
towards the national language; a strong awareness that the language
of literature should draw c l ~ s eto
r the language of everyday speech
is conveyed by Gozzano in tones which are still fresh today, when
much of the work of his contemporaries is irretrievably dated. But
34 Italian Language Today
the Italian at the disposal of these writers was inadequate as an
everyday language, and in this they were the victims of a situation
which they had not themselves created.

How much do we know about the linguistic situation as a whole

rather than just the literary language? How much did it change after
unification? It is difficult to answer these questions. The most
important attempt at an answer was made by De Mauro in his Storia
linguistics dell'Italia unita, from which we shall draw documenta-
tion for what follows.
There is no reliable information for the present day concerning
the number of people who can understand andlor speak (a) varieties
of a dialect, (b) varieties of Italian, or (c) both, and in the last case in
which circumstances they use one or the other. For what it is worth,
our impression of the linguistic usage of urban speakers in northern
Italy is that most people can understand both Italian and dialect,
and that people who only speak dialect sre mostly limited to the
older generation, whilst more and more of the younger generation
can only speak Italian. The data would be difficult to collect and
would have to be broken down region by region, taking into account
at least the differences between town and countryside, between one
town and another according to size, and between the sexes, age
groups and cultural conditions. Although there are no works which
attempt to provide this kind of information for the whole of Italy,
there are some pilot studies on individual communities, which try to
capture the relationship between the standard language, the local
dialect and the dialects of the immigrant^.^
For the past any computation is bound to be even more prob-
lematic. De Mauro stresses how misleading it is to identify speakers
of Italian with Italians. But the identification was in any case never
complete because on the one hand the existence of large Italian
communities in North and South America, France, Belgium, Ger-
many, etc., was taken into account, as well as those in Corsica and in
Switzerland and on the other one was aware of the linguistic
minorities, the communities in Italy using a 'foreign' language as
their native tongue.1°
One may assume that at the time of unification, outside Tuscany
and Rome, only people who were literate were able to use Italian.
The illiterates were all confined to their dialects. The census figures
give about 75 per cent illiterates in 1861, but it would be rash to
assume that the 25 per cent who were nominally literate could speak
 A Historical View 35
Italian proficiently. From what one gathers about elementary
schooling from the main reports on the Italian educational system
(those by Carlo Matteucci of 1867 and Camillo Corradini of 1910)
it would seem that a large proportion of those who had received
some schooling and were classified as literate could in fact not read
or write and were certainly also unable to speak Italian. According
to De Mauro's estimate it is more realistic to assume that in 1861
the number of those able to use Italian could not have amounted to
many more than 600 000 (400000 Tuscans, 70 000 Romans, and
about 160000 from the rest of Italy) i.e., 2.5 per cent of the total
population. l1
But the situation gradually changed. The percentage of illiterates
dropped from 75 per cent in 1861 to almost 50 per cent at the begin-
ning of this century, and to 40 per cent in 1911,20.9 per cent in
1931,12.9percentin1951,8.4percentin1961.DeMauroreports
that in 1951 18.5 per cent of the Italians used only the national
language, and 13 per cent used only a dialect, but even if those who
could use Italian amounted to 87 per cent, the percentage of those
who normally used their dialect in most circumstances was still 63.5
per cent.
Leaving aside schooling, a variety of factors contributed to the
spread of literacy and the use of Italian. Among these one should
mention mass emigration which, between 1871 and 195 1, involved
about twenty-one million people, of whom fourteen million
returned to Italy in the end. One of the side effects of emigration
was that it reduced the number of illiterates at home, and made both
those who had stayed behind and those who returned with more
advanced ideas, aware of how important it was to be educated and
to be able to use the national language as a weapon in the fight to
improve their conditions; other factors were industrialization, and
connected with it, urbanization and the consequent progressive
abandonment of the countryside and of agriculture in favour of
industrial work in the cities, and internal migration, with large num-
bers moving from the south to the north, particularly to Lombardy,
Piedmont and Liguria, after the second world war. These
phenomena naturally had an effect on the linguistic as well as the
cultural situation, but it is difficult to define it exactly. The general
trend of these developments was undoubtedly to weaken the
dialects and to strengthen the use of Italian; but De Mauro,
generalizing from the attitude in Rome, which seems to be
exceptionally receptive, perhaps overestimates the extent of
36 Italian Language Today
osmosis, of linguistic fusion working towards an Italian model. As
C. Grassi pointed out, with regard to urbanization one must not
overlook movements to a town from the neighbouring countryside,
or to a regional capital from the region, which are likely to
strengthen rather than weaken the urban dialect. As far as internal
migration is concerned, Grassi continues, there has certainly not
been a phenomenon of linguistic mixture in the case of southerners
immigrating to the industrial north; on the contrary, adaptation has
been totally one-sided, linguistic conformity being accepted by the
southerners as one of the means of trying to overcome the pre-
judices of the northerners against them (prejudices of the 'polen-
ton2 against the 'terroni';these terms, far from havingonly the dubi-
ously comic connotations of skits and regional farces, reflect
attitudes often verging on racialism). Linguistic mimetism entailed
the attempt on the part of the immigrants themselves, or, if they did
not succeed, of their children, to adopt the language used by the
proletariat, i.e., usually the dialect, but more recently Italian, the
poorly controlled Italian of the lower middle class, taken as an ideal
by the native working class and thus constituting for the immigrants
a model one remove further away.12
Other important factors advancing linguistic unification were
bureaucracy, which from the centre imposed on the whole country a
uniform mixture of literary pomposity and technical administrative
jargon, with a sprinkling of regionalisms (like incarramento 'file',
disguido 'hitch'), and the army, which drew young men together
from all parts of the country sending them to regions other than
their own. D e Mauro sees in the experience of the first world war,
when hundreds of thousands of soldiers were concentrated in Ven-
etia, the beginnings of a spoken national language, the 'italiano
popolare', which found its expression in songs, stories, and letters
exchanged between the soldiers and their families, where the efforts
of people who in many cases were semiliterate seem to have given
birth to a new idiom, a graceless and ungrammatical but vigorous
mixture of stark dialectal expressions and of literary clichts from
official rhetoric, relating to the army, the fatherland and the war.
Another linguist, M. Cortelazzo, has a more puristic view than De
Mauro of this italiano popolare, which he defines as a 'type of Italian
imperfectly acquired by people who have a dialect as their mother
tongue'.13 H e sympathetically analyses in detail, however, many of
these popular texts and concludes that they have common features
which are different from those of literary Italian, but cannot be exp-
 A Historical View 37
lained on the basis of the authors' native dialects. Some features of
this kind of Italian are in fact now found in the colloquial language,
for instance the agreements a d sensum (la commissione hanno
deciso: singular noun, plural verb, as in the English 'the committee
have decided'); the multipurpose che (see chapter V. ll(c)); the
expressive or redundant repetition of pronouns ( a me mipiace'me I
like it'); the generalized dative gli'to him' for feminine and plural as
well (see chapter IV. 2(c)); the use of the indicative instead of the
subjunctive (spero che viene 'I hope he comes' (see chapter IV. 2(g)
(v)). In the authors' intentions these texts are clearly Italian, and not
local, as is indicated by the prevalence of hypercorrect forms over
dialectal ones.
Mass media have of course played a role in the unification of the
language: from newspapers (which predictably, however, given
their limited readership, could not have much effect on the spoken
language), to radio, and lastly to television, the introduction of
which is generally considered to have constituted a turning point in
the diffusion of Italian throughout the country and in the decline of
the dialects.14
There is another context in which dialect speakers have been
brought into contact with Italian: Mass is now celebrated in the ver-
nacular, following the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).
In chapter IV we shall try to give more examples of the develop-
ments mentioned above, when discussing different varieties of Ita-
lian. The considerations in this chapter have been largely external,
which is inevitable since modifications over the last century present
themselves less as an internal evolution of Italian o r of the Italian
dialects than as a change in their respective positions, dialects being
progressively italianized and gradually disappearing. Italian is
known and used more and more widely in Italy, not only as a written
language but also as a spoken one. As a spoken language it appears
in the form of many regional, or rather 'local' varieties, charac-
terized above all by their pronunciation. Given these circumstances
it would be misleading to try to outline the history of Italian as if it
were a homogeneous entity evolving in time. Different com-
munities in different parts of Italy have used their own dialects and
the Italian literary tradition t o elaborate systems of rules which
allow individuals to conform, as speakers, to the usage of the local
community, and to accept, as hearers, usages characteristic of
communities other than their own. These different systems are thus
integrated into a general framework which is homogeneous enough
38 Italian Language Today
t o guarantee reciprocal comprehension within the national com-
munity and t o safeguard its linguistic cohesion, and differentiated
enough t o allow people t o identify themselves in their speech with
their local community and to preserve their solidarity with what still
remains of regional traditions. In their interplay these are not
opposed t o but constitute national culture.

Notes
' VERRI, ALESSANDRO, 'Rinunzia avanti nodaro degli autori del presente
foglio periodic0 al Vocabolario della Crusca' ('Renunciation before a
Notary, by the Authors of the Present Periodical News-Sheet of the Crusca
Dictionary'), in 1I Caff2 No. 4 1764 (Brescia, 1765, pp 30-31; modern
edition, Milan, 1960, pp. 39-41). But the renunciation could not have been
so radical if Pietro Verri felt obliged to observe in No. 30 of 1
I Caffk that
'nodaro' was a misprint for 'notajo' (cf. 1765 edn, pp. 237-240; 1960 edn,
pp. 239-242).
On this point see TIMPANARO, s., Classicismo e illuminismo nell'Ottocento
italiano, Pisa, 1969 (2nd enlarged edn).
"anzoni was neither a linguaiolo nor a purist. When the priest Michele
Ponza in his journal L'Annotatore Piemontese (2, 1835, pp. 75-80)
criticized Tommaso Grossi for having used the expression sentir messa in
his novel Marco Visconti: ' "Sentire la messa " k modo di dialetto: la messa si
ode, si ascolta, alla messa si assiste' (Sentire la messa [to hear mass] is a
dialectal idiom. What you do when you go to mass is udire, ascoltare, assi-
stere [to hear, listen, be present at. Both sentire and udire mean to hear, but
Ponza is here objecting to the use of sentire with 'mass']), Manzoni planned
to reply, together with Grossi, and a draft of his answer waspublished-by D.
Bulferetti under the title Sentir Messa (Milan, 1923). Ponza continues:
scenata 'scene': 'This word is not given in ltalian dictionaries, nor by Cheru-
bini [the author of a Milanese dictionary]; it is used by Milanese scullions:
could one not have used commedicr. scvna ['play', 'scene']? Does our lan-
guage need these novelties'?sor.seggiarr ['to sip'] is not Italian, it should be
sorsare'; Italians 'when they want to entertain their brothers, from the
valley of Usseglio [in Piedmont] down to the last stone of Lilibeo[in Sicily]
speak one language, the only common heritage left to us. Should a good
Italian defile this too? I know that Grossi. and before him Manzoni, and all
their followers reply that that's nature - letting people speak according to
their character and education. Nonsense! l'hen one might as well write in
dialect and renounce the honour of being part of ltalian literature, then it's
like being born and dying on the same crossroads; but if one is gifted
enough to join the sacred family of Italian writers, it is a crime against the
 A Historical View 39
fatherland todefile them with the barbarity of dialects, it is a corruption of
youth, who believe and swear by the authority of a few names, in sum it is a
cruel vituperation of the fatherland'. (For analogous expressions in our own
day cf. m m m , G., in L 'ltalia Dialenale, 2 1, 1967, pp. 181 ff.)
D'OVIDIO, F., in a letter to Raffaello Fornaciari printed in I1 Marzocco, 2
June 1901; we quote from D'OVIDIO, F., Opere, vol. 10 (Varietd filologiche),
Naples, n. d., pp. 273-274.
A systematic examination of these texts has never been attempted, but it
would be rewarding, as is clear from those we have been able to study.
Cf. Lingua Nostra, 28, 1967, p. 61.
' One is reminded here of a predecessor neglected by our purists (and one
can see why), Count Ferdinand0 dal P o u o , who in Paris in 1833 published
a book with the following title: Della felicitd che gli Italiani possono e
debbono dal gowmo austriaco procacciarsi, col piano di un'associazione per
tutta Italia, avente per oggetto la diffusione della pura lingua italiana, e la
contemporanea soppressione de' dialetti che si parlano ne' van paesi della
penisola. Si fa altresi cenno in questo piano della inelegante e goffa maniera
d'indirizzare il discorso a qualcuno in terra persona cost scriwndo comepar-
lando, la qua1 maniera si dovrebbe, generalizzandosi il 'voi ', abolirsi affatto.
'Of the happiness which Italians can and must obtain from the Austrian
government, together with a proposal for an association for the whole of
Italy, having as its object the diffusion of pure Italian language and the
simultaneous suppression of the dialects which are spoken in the various
partsof the peninsula. In this proposal mention is also made of the i n e ~ d ~ a n t
and clumsy habit of addressing people in the third person, both in speech
and writing, a habit which as voi becomes more widespread, should be
abolished altogether.' In the book he suggests (p. 172) that the government
should impose good Italian 'with the powerful influence which it can exert
on public and private education, on forms of worship, on all corporations,
on all employees, on public offices, both administrative and judiciary, by
distributing or withdrawing prizes, promotions and honorific distinctions.'
He was a true precursor of the modern linguaioliwho invoke the arm of the
Constitution and the law to impose their linguistic views, and would like all
school teachers who do not conform to them to be debarred from a job (cf.
PIERACCIONI, D., in Belfagor, 20, 1965, pp. 587-95; TAGLIAVINI, c., L a cor-
retta pronuncia italiana, Bologna, 1965, pp. viii-ix).
Cf. for more information FLORA, F., Ritratto di un ventennio. Appello a1
Re. Stampa dell'era fascists, Bologna, 1965. A detailed analysis in KLEIN,
G., La politica linguistica del fascismo, Bologna, 1986; the movement Dal
dialetto alla lingua associated with the 1923 reform was fostered by
Giuseppe Lombardo Radice; on this important educationalist see DE
MAURO, T., Zdee e ricerche linguistiche nella cultura italiana, Bologna, 1980,
pp. 93-103.
40 Italian Language Today
Cf. PAUTASSO,
M.,Dialetto, lingua e integrazione linguistica a Pettinengo,
Turin. 1969.
' O In 1861 we find about 104000 speakers of French, Provencal and
Franco-Provencal in Piedmont, almost 100 0 0 0 Albanian speakers in small
communities in southern Italy and Sicily going back to fifteenth-century
immigration, and about 30 0 0 0 speakers of other languages: Greek ling-
uistic islands in Salento and Calabria: Bova, Condofuri, Palizzi, Roccaforte
and Roghudi, going back according to some linguists (e.g., Rohlfs) to clas-
sical colonization, according to others (e.g., Battisti) to Byzantine; Catalan
at Alghero, dating from 1354; Slav in the Molise, dating from the arrival of
Croatian refugees escaping from the Turks in the fifteenth century; Franco-
Provenqal in the province of Foggia and Provenqal at Guardia Piemontese
in Calabria. We also find Gallo-Italian colonies in Sicily: at Piazza
Armerina, San Fratello, Nicosia, Francavilla and Novara di Sicilia, which
are 'foreign' in respect of Sicily, but not of Italy. These 'foreign language'
communities made up less than 1 per cent of the twenty-five million
inhabitants of Italy. In 1866 after the annexation of Venetia there were
some German linguistic islands in the provinces of Vicenza and Verona and
in 1919 after the annexation of Trentino and Venezia Giulia there were
about 255 000 speakers of Slovenian, 200 0 0 0 speakers of German, 95 000
speakers of Serbocroat and 1500 speakers of Istro-Rumanian. The ling-
uistic minorities then amounted to about 8 0 0 0 0 0 speakers, i.e., 2.1 per
cent of a total of almost thirty-eight million.
l1 CASTELLANI, A., 'Quanti erano gl'italofoni nel 1861?', Studi Linguistici
Italiani, 8, 1982, pp. 3-26, feeling that this figure was too low, re-examined
all the material with a sceptical eye; many data are in fact uncertain and
open to different interpretations; it is revealing that, as a result of all his
efforts, he was only able to push the figure up from 2.5 to about 10 per cent.
For data on the use of Italian vs. dialect in 1982 see Bollettina della Doxa,
36, no. 10, 1982, pp. 61-67.

l2 Cf. GRASSI,c., in Archivio Glottologico Italiano, 49, 1964, pp. 40-66 and
50, 1965, pp. 58-67; DE MAURO, T., in I[ Veltr0, 9, 1965, pp. 3-21.

l3 CORTELAZZO, M . , Avviamento critic0 a110 studio della dialettologia italiana,

vol. 3, Lineamenti di italiano popolare, Pisa, 1972, p. 11. For De Mauro's
position see DE MAURO, T., 'Per lo studio dell'italiano popolare unitario', in
ROSSI,A., Lettere da una tarantata, Bari, 1970. For a general evaluation see
LEPSCHY, G., 'L'italiano popolare. Riflessioni su riflessioni', in ALBANO
LEONI, F., et al., eds., Italia linguistica: idee, storia, strutture, Bologna, 1983,
pp. 269-282; also HOLTUS, G . and RADTKE, E., eds., Gesprochenes Italienisch
in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Tiibingen, 1985.
l4 Cf. DE MAURO, T., 'Lingua parlata e TV', in Televisione e vita italiana,
Turin, 1968, pp. 247-294; 'Mass media, televisione e lingua parlata negli
anni sessanta', in Ston'a linguistica dell'ltalia unita, Bari, 1972, pp.
430-459.
The following discussion of Italian dialects aims both at presenting
the main dialect subdivisions and at providing background informa-
tion for the description of local varieties of Italian (chapter IV). By
its very nature this, chapter is more suitable for reference or for
reading at a much slower pace than the rest of the first part of this
book. The adoption of a diachronic point of view (connecting Latin
to the present day stages of the dialects) seems appropriate, for it
offers a net with a mesh much finer than the one provided by syn-
chronic analysis (short of making the latter so elaborate that it
would be unreadable for anyone not versed in linguistics) with
which to extract such features as can help identify the dialect of a
text. The word [sho] 'his' can be both Italian and Venetian; [sho]
with the meaning 'I sweat' is Venetian but not Italian. This makes
sense diachronically when one considers a series like Latin s 6 ~ 'I6
sweat', N ~ D C M 'naked', CRBDCM'raw', Italian sudo, nudo, crudo,
Venetian [sho], [nho], [krho], where D is preserved in Italian but
falls in Venetian.' If we compare the Italian words [filo] 'thread',
[nkve] 'snow', [vkro] 'true' with the corresponding Sardinian ones
[filu], [nive], [vbru], we find an apparently unsystematic situation: in
the stressed syllable Italian [el corresponds to either Sardinian [i] or
[E], and Sardinian [i] corresponds to either Italian [i] or [el; but in
diachronic terms everything immediately falls into place: the three
Latin vowels i, i, B (in F~LCM, NIVEM, V ~ R ~are
J Mreduced
) to two both
in Italian and in Sardinian, but those which lose their distinction are
i and B in Italian (both becoming [el), and i and i in Sardinian (both
becoming [i]).
Italian dialects are usually classified as follows:
1. Northern, among which one distinguishes Venetian from the
Gallo-Italian dialects (Piedmontese, Ligurian, Lombard and Emi-
lian);
2. Tuscan, subdivided into central (Florence), western (Lucca,
42 Italian Language Today
Pisa, Livorno), southern (Siena, Arezzo);
3. Central, northern Latium, parts of Umbria and the Marches;
4. Southern, a Neapolitan type (southern Latium, Abruzzi, Cam-
pania, part of Lucania, northern Puglia), and a Sicilian type (Salen-
tine peninsula, Calabria, Sicily).
A separate place is usually given to Sardinian, Ladinian and
Istriote. There is a gradual transition from Tuscan to central, and
from central to southern dialects; a fairly well defined boundary
separates the Gallo-Italian from the Tuscan dialects, along the La
Spezia-Rimini line, particularly on the watershed of the Appen-
nines between Emilia and Tuscany, less sharply in the west (in the
Lunigiana) and in the east, where certain northern isoglosses2reach
as far south as Rome, through the northern Marches and Umbria
(for instance adesso 'now' <XD OD)~ P S ~VS.M the Tuscan o ~ ( z < H ~ R ~
and the southern mo<MdD6). Certain southern isoglosses (e.g.,
~ ~ > [ n n reach
]) as far north as the Grosseto-Ancona line.
Some lexical items are particularly widespread in certain regions:
for instance for 'killing' (a pig) northern and central Italy prefer
ammazzare, Venice copar, the south accidere, and Sicily scannari;
certain words are generally known as being typical of certain reg-
ions, and as such are sometimes used in Italian, for instance the
terms for 'boy' and 'girl': Piedmontese cit and matot, Lombard bagai,
Venetian toso and putelo, Friulan frut, Emilian burdel, Tuscan
bimbo, Abruzzese quatraro (mentioned by Dante in the De Vulgari
Eloquentia), Neapolitan guaglione, Sicilian picciotto and caruso.
There are many other typical terms which are considered to capture
local colour, like Ligurian mugugno 'grumble', Venetian ostrega,
ostregheta 'goodness!', Roman pennichella 'nap', Neapolitan sfizio
'fancy', Sicilian intrallazzo 'racket'.

The vowel system

In Classical Latin vowel quantity (or length) was phonemic, that is
sufficient to distinguish systematically one vowel from another. This
can be shown with many minimal pairs (couples of words in which
the two terms are identical apart from one phoneme, in thiscase the
short vs. long vowel).
Here are some examples: P ~ L ~'javelin' M VS. P Y L ~'hair'; VBNYT
'he came' vs. VENJT 'he comes'; M ~ L ~'apple' M vs. M ~ L ~'bad';
M
~ 6 'I ~cultivate'
6 vs. c 6 ~ 'I6 filter'; P ~ T E T'may he think' vs. PCTET
'he smells'.
 Italian Dialects 43
There were five vowel timbres or qualities: I (high, front), E (mid,
front), A (low, central: i.e., when a vowel is low there is no opposi-
tion between front and back), o (mid, back), u (high, back), and as
for each one there could be a long or a short phoneme, there were
ten vowel phonemes: i i B k iii6 6 ir 6 (in the fourth and fifth pairs
the short vowels are put first because this allows a neater pattern
later in the diachronic tables; the order is obviously conventional).
It is useful to remember that the terms 'long' and 'short' are also
used for Latin metre, but there they refer to syllables and not to
vowels. To avoid confusion we shall use the terms 'light' instead of
'short', and 'heavy' instead of 'long' when referring to syllables.
The most schematic account of the situation is as follows: a
distinction is made between checked (or closed) and free (or open)
syllables. A checked syllable ends in a consonant, a free syllable
ends in a vowel. A single consonant is considered to go with the
following syllable, leaving the preceding one free. When there is a
consonant cluster (or a long consonant, which for this purpose can
be treated as a cluster of two adjacent occurrences of the same con-
sonant) the syllable boundary falls within the consonant cluster and
its first consonant belongs to the preceding syllable, making it
checked. This does not necessarily apply to the clusters which Latin
grammarians called muta cum liquida, consisting of a stop ([p t k b d
g]) followed by a liquid ([I r]). It would seem that in the spoken
language these clusters belonged to the following syllable, making
the preceding one free (but not, in early and late Latin, in words like
~ N T E G R ~'whole'),
~M while in the literary language they could be split
and so make the preceding syllable checked.
A light syllable is a free syllable ending in a short vowel; all other
sorts of syllables are heavy (they may be free ending in a long vowel,
or checked containing either a long or a short ~ o w e l ) . ~
If we use V to represent any vowel and C to represent any con-
sonant, and we ignore as irrelevant what comes before the vowel,
we have the following possibilities (with reference to the first syll-
able of each example):

(1) 9 as in ~ i - ~'hair'
i j ~(light syllable: free, ending in a short
vowel);
(2) as in ~ i - ~ 'thread'
i j ~ (heavy syllable: free, ending in a long
vowel);
(3) VC as in C~R-PCS 'body' (heavy syllable: checked, containing a
short vowel);
44 Italian Language Today
(4) VC as in SCR~P-T~]M'written' (heavy syllable: checked, con-
taining a long vowel).
The distinction between heavy and light syllables in Classical
Latin was independent of the position of the accent (both accented
and unaccented syllables could be either heavy or light), and only
partially dependent on the quantity of the vowel: a syllable with a
long vowel was necessarily heavy, as in (2) and (4) above; a syllable
with a short vowel could be either light, if it was free, as in (1)above,
or heavy, if it was checked, as in (3) above.
The position of the accent was determined by the phonological
structure of the word. In monosyllables there was obviously no
choice. In polysyllables the accent was on the penultimate syllable if
this was heavy (or in any case if the word had two syllables only), on
the antepenultimate (in words of more than two syllables) if the
penultimate was light; the quantity of the antepenultimate was
irrelevant.
Examples: ~BciD6'I cut off', with the accent on the -ci- because
the penultimate is heavy; ~BciD6'I fall off', with the accent on the
DB- because the penultimate is light; the antepenultimate happens
to be heavy, but this is irrelevant; in S ~ P E R'I ~overcome' the
penultimate is light and consequently the accent is on the
antepenultimate even though this too happens to be light.
This system undergoes fundamental changes in Vulgar Latin. A
difference in quality (timbre) comes to be associated with the differ-
ence in quantity, long vowels becoming closed, short vowels
becoming open (with the exception of the most open vowel, A, in
which the quantity distinction does not give origin to a quality
distinction): i>[i:], i>[~], B>[e:], E>[&], 6>[3], 6>[0:], C>[U],
C>[u:]. Then the distinction between long and short ceases to be
phonemic and becomes allophonic, conditioned by the structure of
the syllable. In stressed syllables vowels become long if the syllable
is free, short if the syllable is checked. The quality distinction bet-
ween closed and open, which was originally secondary, now
becomes paramount and takes on the function of a phonemic
opposition.
The phonemic quantity of Classical Latin vowels disappears, and
in the Romance vowels we find a new quantity conditioned
synchronically by syllable structure and diachronically independent
of Classical Latin quantity. The open or closed quality of Romance
vowels depends on the quality of Vulgar Latin vowels, which in turn
 Italian Dialects 45
depends on the quantity of their sources in Classical Latin.
Romance quality depends, indirectly, on Classical Latin quantity.
In other words, knowing the quantity of Classical Latin vowels may
help to predict the quality, not the quantity of the Romance vowels
deriving from them. In some Italian dialects we find quantitative
oppositions (short vs. longvowels) with a phonemic value. These
are new developments, independent of Classical Latin quantity.
There is for instance in Milanese [vestl] 'to dress' vs. [vestl:] 'dress',
[red$] 'to reduce' vs. [red$:] 'laughed' (past participle), [dit] 'said'
(past participle) vs. [dl: t] 'finger'.
The four syllable structures listed above for Classical Latin are
reduced to two in Vulgar Latin and Italian, according to a rule often
called 'lex Ten Brink' after the nineteenth-century Dutch
philologist Bernhard Ten Brink, (1) and (2) giving ir and (3) and (4)
giving VC: the Tuscan outcomes are [pb:lo] ( < P ? L ~ ~ and M ) [fi:lo]
( C F ~ L ~ Mboth
), with V; [khrpo] ( < c ~ R P ~ s and ) [skrltto]
(<SCR~PT~]M) both with i/ce4
For brevity we shall indicate in the following pages the Classical
Latin stage and its present-day Romance outcome, omitting the
intermediate stages, but we hope that what has been said so far will
help to clarify the developments. In our tables we start from the ten
Classical Latin vowels (reduced to nine because we do not disting-
uish between long and short A). It would also be possible to start
from a list of five Classical Latin vowels, preserved in Sardinian
(table 5), which develop through an opposition between close and
open timbres for E and o in Sicily (table 4), for I but not for u in part
of Lucania (table 7) and for E, o, I, u in the rest of Italy (tables 1-3,6,
8, 9).
Table 1
i i a a i 6 6 i r a

This is the Tuscan system. The same system, preserving the Vulgar
Latin distinctions, apart from [I] being fused with [el and [u] with
[o], can be postulated as the starting point for northern and central
Italian and for some southern Italian dialects. Examples for Tuscan
(left to right, as also below): ~ i ~ i j ~ > [ f i'thread',
lo] P~L~M>[P~Io]
'hair', T g L i ~ > [ t t l a ] 'cloth', si?p~ii~>[sktte] 'seven',
MATRi?M>[mddre] 'mother', PiTRi?M>[p!idre] 'father', 6CT6>[htt0]
46 Italian Language Today
'eight', v&Ew>[v6tJe] 'voice', c~ircEw>[kr6tJe] 'cross',
~ u R f i ~ > [ m h'wall'.
r~]
One phenomenon typical of Florentine as against other Tuscan
dialects is 'anaphonesis': in front of a nasal followed by a velar [gk
gg] (and in front of certain clusters containingpalatal consonants [tJ
d3 J p A])[i] is found instead of the expected [el, and [u] instead of
the expected [o], as in [vlgko] 'I win'<vi~cG, [famiAAa]
' f a m i l y ' < ~ X ~ i ~ i i [hggja]
i~, ' n a i l ' < i r ~ ~ i r ~ X w[phppo]
, 'fist'
< P ~ G N ~ ~ According
M. to some scholars (e.g., G. Devoto) we have
here a preservation of the Latin timbres I, u and not a development
[e]>[i], [o]>[u]: 'anaphonesis', suggesting a movement from lower
to higher vowels, would then be an inappropriate term. The fact that
these are the standard Italian forms (vinco, farniglia, unghia, pugno)
can be used to show that Italian phonology is based specifically on
Florentine and not on Tuscan in general.
In Tuscan in stressed penultimate free syllables E and 6 do not give
[E]and [3] but the diphthongs [ j ~and ] [w3]: pE~Ew>[pjkde]'foot',
s 6 ~ i r w > [ b w ~ n o'good'.
] The distinction between the outcomes of
Latin free and checked syllables is much more visible in other
dialects, for instance in Bolognese, where the two following
developments are found in syllables which were free in Latin (Table
2) and in syllables which were checked in Latin (Table 3):

Table 2

Table 3

Examples: Table 2: Xwicirw>[aml:g] 'friend', ~i~iTw>[pajl] 'hair',

~B~iiw>[thjla]'cloth', ~ i i ~ i ~ > [ m e :'he
d ] reaps', PACEM>[PE:Z]
'peace', ~b~Xw>[rb:da] 'wheel', X M ~ R E M > [ ~ ~'love', ~W~]
c~ircE~>[krawz]'cross', L ~ C ~ ? M > [ ~ 'light';
U : Z ] Table 3: ~ i x i ~
>[dess] 'he said', ~iscEw>[pass]'fish', c~Esci~>[krass] 'he grows',
 Italian Dialects 47
sEPTEM>[sE:~]'seven', GXTTCM> [ga:t] 'cat', 6ssij~>[o:~]'bone',
6LLXhi>[hlla] 'pot', ~irssir~>[rass]
'red', Exsfic~ir~>[sott]
'dry'.
Other patterns are as follows (examples are given only for those
developments which differentiate each system from the others):
Table 4
i i a E i 6 6 i r f i

This is the Sicilian system; it is found not only in Sicily but also in
southern Calabria, in southern Cilento (in the province of Salerno),
in Salento (southern Puglia), and in a part of Lucania. Examples in
Sicilian: ~ i ~ C ~ > [ f l 'thread',
lu] N!vEM>[~~v~]'snow', ~ E ~ h > [ t i l a ]
'cloth', v&E~>[vhtSi] 'voice', ~ircEw>[nI!ItSi]'nut', ~ i i ~ i ~ > [ l b n a ]
'moon'. Final vowels are reduced to three, [a i u], with - ~ > [ i ]and
-o>[u]. This system should be familiar to students of Italian litera-
ture who will have met it in connection with the language of the
thirteenth-century Sicilian school of poetry.
Table 5

This is the Sardinian system; it is found not only in Sardinia, but also
in southern Corsica (in northern Corsica the system is basically
Tuscan; the official language of the island is French), and in a zone
at the boundary between Lucania and Calabria, from Maratea and
Diamante to Castrovillari and Cassano. Examples in Sardinian:
~ i ~ i h > [ f i i u'thread',
] ~ i v E ~ > [ n l v e'snow',
] viiaC~>[vkru] 'true',
~iS~E>[fkle]'gall', ~6TjiM>[rbda] 'wheel', d ~ i i ~ > [ s b l e'sun', ]
C R ~ ~ C ~ M >'cross', [ ~ I ! hffiRCM>[mI!Ir~]
I~~] 'wall'.

Table 6

This is called the Apulian system; it is found in parts of Puglia,

48 Italian Language Today
northern Abruzzi, part of Cilento, northern and eastern Lucania.
Examples from Avetrana (in the province of Taranto):
pipE~>[pkpa] 'pepper', c ~ i r i ~ > [ k r k t a'clay',
] sE~rE~>[sktta]
'seven', c6aE>[khri] 'heart', sdLii~>[shli] 'sun', ~ircEM>[nhtSi]
'nut'.
Table 7

This asymmetric system is found in a small part of Lucania, south-

east of Potenza. Examples from Castelmezzano (in the province of
Potenza): ~ i v E ~ > [ n t v a'snow',
] ~ E ~ i ~ > [ t t l'cloth',
a] PEDEM
>[pCda] 'foot', c 6 ~ i > [ k b r a ] 'heart', s 6 ~ E ~ > [ s b l a ]'sun',
c~ircE~>[krhtSa] 'cross', ~ f i ~ i r ~ > [ m ~'wall'.
lra]

There are cases which appear even more asymmetric, such as the
following ones in Northern Abruzzi and Southern Marches:
Table 8

Examples from the province of Teramo: ~ i ~ i r ~ > [ p b 'hair9,

la]
~ S ~ s i ~ > [ m b 'month',
sa] ~krir>[rnbta]'he reaps'.
Table 9
i i s E i 6 6 i r f i

Examples from the province of Ascoli Piceno: ~ i ~ ~ i T i ~ > [ l h l ) g w a ]

'tongue', r E ~ l i ~ > [ t b l a'cloth',
] kr6>[btta] 'eight', s 6 ~ E ~ > [ s b l a ]
'sun', cairci~>[krbtJ-a]'cross'.

In Gallo-Italian dialects there is a tendency to palatalize vowels, in

varying conditions: b [ a e E el, particularly in Emilia (in Bolognese
NAS~M>[~&:Z] 'nose'), but also in dialects of the Marches, Abruzzi,
Umbria and southern Tuscany (cf. Aretine RE>-[er]), and in the
 Italian Dialects 49
south ( ~ i M b ~ > [ r t ? m'branch'
a] at Martina Franca); C>[y], b>[@]in
parts of Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy (cf. in Milanese
~ f i ~ b ~ > [ m'wall',y r ] ~ 6 ~ X ~ > [ r d l'wheel');
da] the two mixed vowels
[y] and [@Ioften appear together in the same dialect, but in many
cases there is one of the two only: for instance in Parma and
Piacenza there is [@Ibut not [y]; B, i and 6, 6 often give [ ~ j[i] ] and
[3w] [u] respectively: Ligurian NiviiM>[nkJve] 'snow', Piedmontese
r B ~ X ~ > [ t k j l a'cloth',
] Lombard s i i ~ X ~ > [ s i r a'evening',
] MBNSEM
>[mis] 'month', Emilian s ~ L E M > [ s ~ w'sun'. I ] Lombard. Piedmont-
ese, Emilian F L ~ R E M > [ 'flower'. ~~u~]
Unstressed vowels tend to fall in Piedmontese, Lombard, Emi-
lian, but not in Ligurian; final unstressed vowels, apart from A ,
systematically fall. This causes the appearance of many consonant
clusters which do not exist in Tuscan and give the word a character
very different from the generally accepted idea of what Italian
sounds like: cf. for instance in Bolognese [stamg] 'stomach'
( S T ~ M X C H ~[dmAndga]
M, ' S U ~ ~ ~ Y ' C D ~ M [zbd~:l]
~ N ~ C X'hospital'
M,
< H ~ S P ~ T ~ L[pordg]E M , 'ar~ade'<p6RTic6~.
Northern dialects are in their combinations of phonemes nearer
than Tuscan to a European model, allowing a richer syllable struc-
ture and greater economy of usage, i.e., the production of a greater
number of syllables using the same number of phonemes. The
opposite happens in the south, where not only do unstressed vowels
rarely fall, but vowels are often introduced to break consonant clus-
ters (this phenomenon is called epenthesis or anaptyxis): cf. for
instance Abruzzese [sbleka] vs. Italian solco 'furrow', Sicilian
[mhgiru] vs. Italian magro 'thin', Salentine [Ampulu] vs. Italian
ampio 'wide'. In the north the Venetian vowel system developed in
a way more similar to the Tuscan one than to the Gallo-Italian one.

The main southern Italian vowel systems have been exemplified in

the tables above. A feature which affects dialects of the Neapolitan
type (in Campania, Abruzzi, Puglia in particular) is a general
weakening of unstressed vowels, and the reduction of final vowels
to -[a] or, sometimes, their disappearance. This does not happen in
dialects of the Sicilian and Sardinian type.
We also find developments conspicuously different from the ones
given in the above tables, for the high and mid-high vowels, particu-
larly in the dialects of the Marches, Abruzzi and Puglia. For instance
from i we get [el (~icb>[dCka]'I say' at Massignano in the province
of Ascoli Piceno), [ej] ( ~ i ~ 6 ~ > [ f C j'thread'
la] at Alberobello in the
50 Italian Language Today
province of Bari), [ ~ j([fkjla] ] at Spinazzola in the province of Bari),
[aj] ( s ~ i c i ~ > [ s p h j k'ear
a ] of corn' at Gessopalena in the province of
Chieti), [oj] (vi~X~>[vbjta] 'life' at Bitonto in the province of Bari),
[3j] ([f3jla] at Canosa in the province of Bari), [oj] ([fbjla] at Fara
San Martino in the province of Chieti),[uj] ( v i ~ E ~ > [ v h j t'vine' a] at
Tocco in the province of Pescara); from 6 we get [o]
( ~ 6 ~ i r ~ > [ f d m'smoke'
a] at Massignano), [ow] (~6NiiM>[lbwna!
'moon' at Alberobello), [awl ([lhwna] at Vico del Gargano in the
province of Foggia), [ew] ([lkwna] at Spinazzola), [iw]
(~Osir~>[fiwsa] 'spindle' at Vasto in the province of Chieti), [ow]
([fbwsa] at Trani in the province of Bari); from &, i we get [ ~ j ]
(~E~Xw>[tkjla] 'cloth', ~ i v E ~ > [ n k j v 'snow'
a] at Lucera in the pro-
vince of Foggia), [aj] ([thjla], [nhjva] at Alberobello), [3j] ([tdjla],
[mjf] at Fara San Martino); from 6,ir we get [3w] (s6~Ew>[dwla]
'sun' at Martina Franca in the province of Taranto), [awl ([shwla] at
Canosa), [EW]([stwla] at Agnone in the province of Campobasso),
[a] ([shla] at Bellante in the province of Teramo).

Other changes, conditioned by the phonological context, appear in

the important phenomenon called metaphony or metaphonesis.
This is a change in the stressed vowel caused by the presence of
certain following (usually final) vowels. In Indo-European
comparative grammar it is traditional to talk of apophony or Ablaut
when a change in grammatical function (meaning) is manifested by
a change in the vowel of the root: for instance in Latin FXC~T 'he
does' vs. FBC~T'he did', or V E N ~ T'he comes' vs. V E N ~ T'he came', or in
English sing, sang, sung. Changes which do not have a grammatical
function but are determined by certain vowels in the syllables which
follow, as in German Fuss vs. Fusse 'foot' vs. 'feet', Gust vs. Caste
'guest' vs. 'guests', are called metaphony or Umlaut (in these exam-
ples the plural is indicated by the final -el whose presence causes the
Umlaut).
An attempt has been made to interpret Ablaut as resulting from
an earlier Umlaut in Proto-Indo-European; this derivation is
inevitably hypothetical, but a similar one appears in the historic
stages of Indo-European languages: for instance the opposition
between foot and feet in English appears synchronically as a case of
Ablaut, but it derives from an earlier Umlaut phenomenon: in the
plural of [fo:t] a final -[i] caused the [o:] to change to [e:], and then
disappeared, leaving the difference between singular and plural to
be shown by the difference of vowel in foot vs. feet. An analogous
 Italian Dialects 51
phenomenon is found in Italian dialects, where the disappearance,
or the weakening to-[a], of final vowels changes what was originally
Umlaut into a case of Ablaut.
The final vowels which cause metaphony (to use the term pre-
ferred in Italian dialectology) are generally both i and ir in southern
Italy (with the consequence that masculine, with metaphony, is
opposed to feminine, without metaphony), and only i in northern
Italy (with the consequence that the masculine plural, with
metaphony, is opposed to the masculine singular, without
metaphony, whereas the feminine, both singular and plural, is
without metaphony).
For instance in Campania [ n C r a ] < ~ i ~ ~Ni~~G ,R A E VS.
[ n i r a ] < ~ i ~ ~ iNr ~~ G, R ~'black'; [ ~ ~ s s ~ ] < R ~ s s XRM ~ S, S A E vS.
[rbssa]<~irssir~,~ i r s s i 'red'; [ b k l l a ] < e E ~ ~ X ~BELLAE , VS.
[bjtlla] <BELL~M, BELL? 'beautiful'; [ b h a ] <B~NXM, B ~ N A E VS.
[ b w 6 n a ] < ~ b ~ i rB~~, N ? 'good1: in all these examples we find
feminine singular and plural without metaphony vs. masculine
singular and plural with metaphony.
In southern Italy it is also possible to find a metaphonic opposi-
tion between singular and plural: for instance at Bellante, in the
province of Teramo, [ E ~ ] < X P ~vs. M [ip]<X~Cs 'bee' vs. 'bees',
[YE~~]<GXLL~M VS. [~ill]<GiLLi'cock' VS. 'COC~S', [yatt]<~XTTi]MVS.
[ y i t t ] < ~ X 'cat'
~ ~ i VS. 'cats', [ken]<cX~Ewvs. [kin]<ci~Bs'dog' vs.
'dogs'. This is the function which metaphony normally has in the
north, as in Venetian [ ~ ~ z o ] < T ~ NVS. s ~[Mt h z i ] < ~ t j ~ 'boy'
si vs.
'boys', or, with fall of final vowels, in Lombard
[~w&S~]<BCCO+IST~~M vs. [kwist]<EccO+Is~i'this' vs. 'these', Emi-
lian [ ~ ~ ] < P B D Evs.M [P~:]<PEDEs'foot' VS. Lfeet'.
Metaphony may cause different changes in the vowels affected.
Most frequently we find a closure of mid-high into high vowels and a
breaking of mid-low vowels into diphthongs: [e]>[i], [o]>[u],
[&]>[jell [3l>[wol.

The consonant system

For Classical Latin the following consonants may be listed (omitting
problems which are not relevant for our present purpose): stops
[p t k b d g], fricatives [f s h], nasals [m n], lateral [l], vibrant [r]; to
these the semiconsonants [w] and [j] have to be added. It will be
noticed that there are no palatals, no affricates, no voiced counter-
52 Italian Language Today
parts of [f] and [s]. Among the main changes, we should mention:
(1) early disappearance of [h];
(2) tendency to eliminate final consonants;
(3) tendency to preserve initial consonants;
(4) sonorization or voicing; this affects voiceless intervocalic
consonants in Tuscan in a very capricious manner: [rival
' s h o r e ' C ~ i ~ [strAda]
i~, ' s t r e e t ' c s ~ ~ i i [Ago]
~ i ~ , 'needle'<icCu,
but [Ape] ' b e e ' < i ~ E ~ ,[atJkto] 'vinegar'CicS~C~,[amiko]
' f r i e n d ' c i ~ i c i i ~Many
. vain attempts have been made to explain
why this phenomenon occurs so erratically, either by looking for a
phonological or a grammatical explanation (Meyer-Liibke, Ascoli),
or by having recourse to a subdivision in vocabulary between native
words and words influenced by some external factor. Merlo thought
that voicing was the spontaneous Tuscan development and that the
voiceless consonant was preserved in Latinisms; Rohlfs suggested
that Tuscan preserved the voiceless (see the past participles -[Ato],
-[hto], -[ito], which must belong to popular everyday speech) and
that words with sonorization were loanwords from the north (he
tried to prove this by showing that in many cases the borrowing can
be explained on cultural grounds).5 In northern Italy sonorization
takes place systematically.
Sonorization, or lenition as it is sometimes called, being in Italy a
change from voiceless and tense to voiced and lax, is considered a
form of weakening and it is related to spirantization (as in [p]>[v])
and to complete disappearance (particularly for [t]>[d]>0): cf.
XMi~iM>Lombard[mtda], Venetian [bmja] 'aunt'. For the three
examples given above without sonorization in Tuscan cf. Venetian
[Ava], [azko], [amlgo], Bolognese [E:v], [azh], [ami:g].
In southern Italy we often find sonorization in clusters of
[s] +consonant, and always in clusters of [n]+consonant: cf. in Bari
[zdar~gAta]for stancato 'tired', in Naples [mbnda] for monte 'moun-
tain'; in many southern dialects there is a laxing of articulation
which makes northerners interpret a word like napoletano, in a
Neapolitan pronunciation, as [nabuledhna].
(5) palatalization: in Tuscany and central Italy velar stops [kg] fol-
lowed by a front vowel develop into [tJ d31, and these often further
into [J 31: vici~ij~>[vitJino] [viJino] 'near', i ~ i ~ E ~ > [ h d g i[Agile]
le]
'agile'.6
In northern Italy the development is to [ts dz] and often further to
[s z]; in Venetia there are many cases of [B 61 ([BCnto] 'a
h u n d r e d ' C c i i ~ ~ C [ekna]
~, ' s u p p e r ' < c S ~ i ~ ,[eima] 'summit'
 Italian Dialects 53
<c+MXM, [ClenhtJo] 'knee'<cENircirLirM, [(lknaro] 'son-in-
~~W'<GENERGM, [Clelhr] 'to f r e e z e ' c c g ~ i ~vs.
i i cento, cena, cima,
ginocchio, genero, gelare); in parts of Piedmont and Lombardy there
is [dg] and not [dz]: [dgkner] 'son-in-law'<cE~E~ir~, [d3elk] 'to
f r e e z e ' < c E ~ i ~ Ethe
; chronology of the disappearance of the initial
stop element (i.e., of the change of the affricates [ts dz tJ d31 into
sibilants [s z J 31) varies according to the dialect. In Friulan [kg] are
palatalized before [a]: cXsXw>[tJhze] 'house', CXLL6M>[dgal]
'cock'.
In southern Italy, before front vowels, [k]>[tJ], [g]>[j] and [I]:
Sicilian [krbtJi] 'c~oSS'<CR~CEM,Neapolitan [jalh] 'freeze'
<GELARE,Pugliese [IkJa] 'read'<~EcE~E.
In a central, linguistically more conservative, part of Sardinia
[kg] preserve their velar sound even before front vowels: [kkrtu]
'~ertain'<cER~CM,[kkntu] 'a h u n d r e d ' < c E ~ r f i ~ [kkra] , 'wax'
<cCRXM, [dkke] 'ten'<DEcEM, [akktu] 'vinegar'<XcErii~, [girsre]
'to ~ u ~ ~ ' < G T R [gelare]~ R E , 'to freeze'<GE~iRE, [Ikgere] 'to read'
<LEGERE;
(6) the development of [j] and of clusters of consonant +[j] is rather
complex.
In Tuscan in intervocalic position we find [j dj gj]>[ddg]:
~ i ; i C ~ > [ m h d d g o'May',
] ~G~iE>[hddgi] 'today', ~ B c i i ~ > [ r k d d g a ]
'royal palace';' [tj]>[tts]: Vf~i6~>[VkttSo]'habit';8 [kj]>[ttj]:
~ ~ X c ~ i i r ~ > [ b r h t 'arm';
t J o ] when a consonant precedes the cluster
we find analogous developments, except for consonant +[dj] which
gives consonant+[dz] (~RXNDifiM>[prand~~] 'meal', H ~ R D % M
>[hrdzo] 'barley'); this is not surprising, as -[dj]- reduces to -[j]-
(and then undergoes the same changes as [j]) when it is intervocalic,
but not when it is preceded by a consonant.
There are also words which present different developments from
these, such as consonant+[tj]>consonant+[tJ] as in cCM~N~TIARE
>[komintJAre] 'to begin' (perhaps owing to hypercorrection);
[tj]>[3] and [d3] in words like ragione 'reason', stagione 'season',
pregio 'value', etc., probably owing to the influence of Gallo-Italian
dialects where - T ~ ~ N E M > - :[ zthe ~ ~ [z]
] pronounced with some
degree of palatalization (as many Gallo-Italian sibilants still are)
may have been interpreted as [3] and identified with the Tuscan [g]
which freely alternates with [dg] in wordssuch as agile 'agile'; hence
forms like ragione pronounced [ragbne] and [radgbne].
[kj]>[ts] (as in *cX~cEX~>[kaltsa] 'stocking'), and [j d j gj]>[ddz]
(as in oKh>[ggddza] 'magpie', h d ~ b > [ m d d d z o ] 'half',
54 Italian Language Today
* G R B G ~ Z T M > 'rough') [ ~ ~ ~ ~ show~ ~ O the
] ~ same development
which we find in northern dialects (where one may also find
[ts]>[s], [dz]>[z], as has been seen above for the palatalization of
[k g]; 6.Venetian [ b r b ] [mbzo]).
In southern dialects we get [j dj gj] > [j] (Calabrian [jbku]
' p l a y ' c ~ k i r ~[mhju]
, 'May'<MilirM), but in Puglia and eastern
Lucania frequently [J] (Apulian [Jinnhru] ' J a n u a r y ' < ~ i ~ i i i ~ i i i ~ ,
[mhJu] 'May'C~i~irM), [tj kj]>[tts] (Calabrian [kjhttsa] 'square'
CPLATE~M, [vrhttsu] 'arm'<BRicHiirM).
Other clusters with [j] also offer useful criteria for distinguishing
between dialects:
(1) -[rj]- is simplified to -[j]- in Tuscany and to -[r]- in the rest of
Italy: cf. the suffix -ZRIUM giving -[hjo] in Tuscan and -[hro hr kr],
etc., in other dialects;
(2) -[sj]->-[TI- in Tuscany and central Italy (~iSifiM>[bhS~] 'kiss',
c i ~ i s i i ~ > [ k a m i S a ]'shirt', cisEir~>[khJo] 'cheese', c6nsCd
>*cosro>[kt~Jo] 'sew', *~~fisii~E>[bru,fhre] 'to burn') and [s], or
with sonorization [z], in other parts of Italy (Neapolitan [vba],
Venetian [bhz~]<BiSifiM).
The pronunciation with [tJ] instead of [J] in these words (cf. the
spellings bacio, camicia, cacio, cucio, bruciare) must have originated
on the model of words like vicino, with [k]>[tJ]>[J'], where the two
stages [tJ] and [J] both survived and the two sounds were considered
alternants; similarly they must have been considered alternants in
the series bacio, camicia, etc., where there was originally no [k] and
consequently no [tJ].
There is a series of words with sonorization in Tuscan such as
[tJiljk3a] 'cherry'<cE~EsEi~, [fa33101 ' b e a n 7 < p ~ X s E 6 ~[kagbne]
ir~,
' c a u s e ' C k c i i s i b ~ ~[prigbne]
~, ' P ~ ~ s o ~ ' < P R ~ N S ~where
~ N ~ M[3]
similarly alternates with [d3] (cf. the group of words mentioned
above with [tj]>[3] alternating with [d3]: ragione, stagione, pregio,
etc.);
(3) -[lj]->- [hA]- in Tuscan, as in ~ i ~ i i [fl/C/Zo] r ~ > 'son',
~ i r ~ l i i ~ > [ r n b A'wife',
~ e ] but it has different outcomes in other
dialects: -[j]- in the north (Lombard [phja] 'straw'CpilrEX~)(also
[d3] in Venetian and Ligurian, [hdgo], [Adgu] 'garlicl<i~iirM),-[jj]-
in central Italy (Roman [fljjo] ' s o n ' c ~ i ~ i i r -[jj]- ~ ) , or -[jj]- in the
south (Abruzzese [fijja], Sicilian [fijju]) ;
(4) -[pj]- > -[ppj]-; -[bj]-, -[vj]- > -[bbj]- in Tuscan (sXP~XT
>[shppja] 'may he know', ~ i ~ E ; i ~ > [ h b b'may j a ] he have', CXVEXM
>[ghbbja] 'cage'), but -[ttJ]- and -[ddg]- in the south (Neapolitan
 Italian Dialects 55
[shttja], [hddga]); piccione 'pigeon'<PiPid~Eumust have been bor-
rowed by Standard Italian from the south as its [ttJ] instead of [ppj]
indicates;
(5) -[mj]->-[mmjl- in Tuscan, but -[mj j1 m]- in the north, and
-[p p]- in the south (viN~~uiuiiX~>Tuscan [vendtmmja], Lombard
[vendtmja], Ligurian [vendkpa], Venetian [vendtma], Campanian
[venntppa] 'grape harvest').
There are other consonant clusters whose development may be
used to differentiate between the dialects:
(1) p ~ > [ p j ] in Tuscany and the north (but [tj] in Ligurian:
Pl.i~fiM>[t$hg] 'flat', P L ~ T E ~ M > [ 'square'), ~ J ~ s ~ ] and [kj] in the
south: p~Gs>Tuscan [pju], Neapolitan [kju] 'more', P L ~ N ~ M
>Tuscan [pjhno], Neapolitan [kjhna] 'flat', ~ L d v i r > ~ u s c [pjbve], in
Neapolitan [kjhva] 'it rains'; PL is preserved in Ladinian ([plag]) (as
well as other clusters with L: Germanic b i a n k > * ~ ~ ~ ~ c u ~ > [ b l a g k ]
'white', c~iiu;ir>[klhma] 'he calls', EcctEsiX~>[gltzje]'church'),
and in parts of Abruzzi (P~ANfi~>[pl&na] 'flat'), or the L may
change to [r] as in Sardinia ( P L ~ N ~ ] M > [ ~'full') T & ~ and
U ] in parts of
Abruzzi ( ~ ~ i c A ~ E > [ p r a k'fold');
h]
(2) e ~ > [ b j ]in Tuscan and in the north (but [d3] in Ligurian: Ger-
manic b l a n k > * ~ ~ ~ ~ c u u > [ d 3 h g'white'),
ku] and [j] or [d3] in the
south: Tuscan [bjhgko], Neapolitan [jhgka] 'white';
(3) ~ ~ > [ korj ][c] in Tuscan and in the south, but [tj] in the north:
c L i ~ & ~ > T u s c a[kjhma],
n [chma], Neapolitan [kjhma], Venetian
[tJhma] 'he calls'; in an internal position it may become [j] or [d3] in
the north-west and [tj] in the north-east: ~u~i~i]LuiiX~>Piedmontese
[urlja], Lombard [urkdga], Venetian [rttJa] 'ear';
(4) ~ ~ > [ g or j ] [j] in Tuscan, [d3] in the north, [j j h] in the south:
* G L X N D ~ M > T U[gjhnda],
S C ~ ~ [jhnda], Venetian [dghnda], Abruz-
zese [jhnna], Neapolitan [Ahnna], Sicilian [jjhnna] 'acorn';
(5) ~ ~ > [ f jin] Tuscan and in the north, but [J] in the south:
~LCuEN>Tuscan[fjhme], Neapolitan [jhmma] 'river'.
Other consonant clusters undergo assimilation in Tuscany and in
the south: p~>[tt] ( S c ~ i ~ ~ i ] ~ > T u s[skrltto]
can 'written'), B T > [ ~t]
( s ~ B T ~ ~ > T u[ dSt tCo ]~ 'under'),
~ ~ r > [ t t ] ( k ~ d > T u s c a n [btto]
'eight'), ps>[ss] (Sc~i~sir>Tuscan [skrlsse] 'he wrote'), ~ s > [ s s ]
( D ~ x ~ T > T u s[dlsse]
c ~ ~ 'he said'), etc.
'1n the north the double (or long) consonants of Latin are
systematically reduced to single consonants, as in ~Xrri]u>[ght(o)]
'cat', X ~ ~ i ] u > [ h n ( o )'year',
] etc.
This applies also to Romance double consonants resulting from
56 Italian Language Today
the assimilation of clusters of two different Latin consonants. But in
some cases these clusters have altogether different outcomes in the
north, e.g., ~T>Piedrnonteseand Ligurian [jt], Lombard [ts], Emi-
lian and Venetian [t]: LXCTE, F X C T ~ M > T U S[latte], C ~ ~ [fatto],
Piedmontese and Ligurian [lajt], [fajt], Lombard [lats], [fats], Emi-
lian [lat], [fat], Venetian [late], [fato] 'milk', 'done'.
The clusters ND,MB remain as [nd], [mb] in Tuscany and in the
north, but are assimilated into [nn], [mm] in the south:
~uX~D<i>Tuscan [kwando], Neapolitan [kwanna] 'when', P L ~ M -
B ~ ~ M > T u [pjbmbo],
sc~~ Neapolitan [kjhmma] 'lead'; the clusters
[nd], [mb] exist in southern dialects as outcomes not of ND,MB,but
of NT, MP, as we have seen above: c X ~ ~ A ~ E > [ k a n d'to a ] sing',
c i ~ ~ A ~ X w > [ k a m b i n'bell'.
a]
Other characteristic phenomena found in many parts of the south
are ~ ~ > [ d or d ] [QQ]: BELL6M>Sicilian [bkQQu] 'beautiful', and a
development called 'betacism' consisting of the fusion of [b] and [v]
both resulting in [v] when the consonant is single, and in [bb] when
the consonant is double: in Neapolitan ~ 6 c c X ~ > [ v b k k a'mouth', ]
i ~ v E ~ T A ~ g > [ a b b e n t'to
i i ] rest', and cf. [a vkna] 'the vein' vs. [e
bbkna] 'the veins', because the plural feminine article causes the
doubling of the initial consonant of the following word.
In front of a consonant L>[w] in Piedmont ( X ~ ~ i ] ~ > [ a 'high', wt]
c X ~ i ~ i r ~ > [ k a w'hot',
d ] ~ X ~ s i r ~ > [ f a w'false'),
s] and in parts of
central and southern Italy ([Awtu] at Velletri in the province of
Rome; ~XLcEM>[fhwt$e] 'scythe' at Sora in the province of
Frosinone); LD>[II] in parts of central and southern Italy
(~~LiD6M>[khllo] 'hot' in the Marches); L in front of a consonant
may also become [r]: in Roman i ~ ~ i T ~ > [ S r 'high', to] ~L(L~M)
cXNEM>[er kine] 'the dog'; ~ > [ r ]in some Southern dialects: in
Neapolitan ~ i ~ i ~ i T ~ > [ r'finger',l t a ] ~ f i 6 ~ E c i ~ > [ r b r a t S'twelve';
a]
in Sicilian ~ E c E ~ > [ r k t J i'ten',
] c ~ B ~ E ~ E > [ k r i r i'to
r i ] believe'.

One cannot delve here into points of grammar, but it is clear that the
study of dialects reveals many interesting features not found in the
literary language.
For instance in dialects of central and southern Italy one finds the
survival of a distinction between masculine and neuter, the neuter
form of the article coming from ~ L L ~and D , the masculine from
TLL~M as, in ( I ) [u rnrntla] 'honey' vs. [u kana] 'dog' in Rari, the
neuter causing syntactic doubling; (2) [lo litte] vs. [lu khne] in Rieti,
 Italian Dialects 57
or [o lhtte] vs. [u khne] at Nemi in the province of Rome, the neuter
issuing from a more open and the masculine from a more closed 6 ;
for the same reason there is a neuter (and feminine) [kwCJta] 'this'
without metaphony and a masculine [kwlsta] with metaphony in
Abruzzese, and one distinguishes [lo pkSSo] 'fish' (collective) vs. [lu
+JSu] 'fish' (individual) at Servigliano in the province of Ascoli
Piceno; and similarly in Neapolitan [o ffjCrra] 'iron', as substance,
vs. [o fjCrra] 'the iron', as a tool, and with pronouns [o bbtka] 'I see
it', with reference to a mass noun vs. [o vCka] 'I see it1, with refer-
ence to a countable noun. Features such as this may emerge in the
use of the standard language and be quite inexplicable if one is not
aware of the conditions prevailing in the dialect.
Many other points could be discussed, such as the postposition of
the possessives in the south (Campanian [frhtata] vs. Lombard [to
fradkl] 'your brother'); the first person plural endings in the verb,
where standard Italian has generalized -[jhmo], but in Piedmontese
we find -[hma] ([kanthma] 'we sing', [venhma] 'we come'), and in
other northern dialects -[Cmo], -[imo] (Venetian [kanttmo] 'we
sing', [dormlmo] 'we sleep'); the third person plural which in some
dialects is identical to the third person singular (for instance in
Venetian [el bCve] 'he drinks' and [i bCve] 'they drink'); the gradual
elimination of the past historic and the generalization of the com-
pound past in the north; the substitution for the conditional of the
imperfect indicative in Puglia, of the imperfect subjunctive in
Abruzzi and parts of Campania, or of forms deriving from the Latin
pluperfect, like Sicilian [kanthra], Calabrian [ k a n t h r r a ] < c i ~ ~ i -
VERXT 'he would sing' (cf. the literary Italian fora 'he would
be'<~6E~i~ Many
) . dialects have a conditional in -[la], from the
imperfect of HABCRE, instead of -[ki] from its past historic (the -ia
conditionals of the literary language probably originate from the
Sicilian school). Many southern dialects have substituted various
periphrastic expressions for the future and for the infinitive. Many
northern dialects have eliminated the stressed forms of the personal
pronouns in the nominative, and use obligatory proclitic forms of
the pronouns with the verb, as in French.

We give overleaf (disregarding the use of pronouns) the present

indicative of a verb ('to say') in Latin, in Italian, and in six dialects,
three from the north and three from the south: it offers a telling
picture of the varied development of the Italian dialects:
58 Italian Language Today
Latin Italian Milanese Bolognese
~f Cd [diko] [di :zi] Peg1
~icis [ditsi] [di :zet] [di:]
D~C~T [ditSel [di :s] [di:z]
D ~ c I M ~ ~ S [ditJhmo] [di:zum] td3ar)l
D~C~T~S [dite] [dizt] [dgi:]
D ~ C ~ ~ N T [dlkono] [di :zen] [di:zen]
Abruzzese Apulian Sardinian
Venetian (Bellante) (Canosa) (Sassari)
[dig01 [dakl [dhjka] [diggul
[dizi] [datSI [ d ~ j t IS [dil
[dize] [datS1 [d~jtsi [didzi]
[diztmo] [ditshma] [datshjma] [dlmmu]
[dizt] [ditshta] [datjhjta] [diddi]
[dize] [datSI [dikana] [didzini]

To show what dialectal texts look like, in traditional spelling

rather than in phonetic transcription, we quote some popular verses
(from the Canzoniere Italiano, edited by P. P. Pasolini, Milan,
1972) with their literal Italian translation, and also an English ren-
dering.

From Piedmont: 0 mama mia, cuntenttmi 'I cori,

D t - m i cul giuuinin ch'a j'6 amicissia,
Tutti me dizu che 13 u n rumpacolli:
D t - m - l i , mama, ch'a i far6 cambit vita.
0mamma mia, contentatemi il 0mother, satisfy my heart,
cuore,
datemi quel ragazzo che c'ho Give me the boy I am friends with.
amicizia.
Tutti mi dicono che 2 un rompicollo: Everyone tells me he is a madcap,
datemelo, mamma, gli farb Give him to me, mother, I'll make
cambiare vita. him change his ways.
From Liguria: Passu de s'tu caruggiu tantu nouu:
R a liin-na a mesa nocce a nun luxiua,
U ' n j' era n t ra liin-na, n t lu sule,
I'occhi d r a bella ch'i mnaua's'sprendure.
Passoperquesto vicolo tanto nuovo: I go down this alley which is so new:
la luna a mezzanotte non splendeva, The moon was not shining at
midnight,
 Italian Dialects 59
non c'era n t la luna nt il sole, There was neither the moon nor the
sun,
c 'eranogli occhi della bella a far There were the eyes of my fair one
splendore. shedding their light.

From Romagna: Lavora, cuntadtn, lavora fort,

Quando ti U P aparti, e 'gran 13poc;
Lavora, cuntadtn, a la sicura,
Patron e' gran, e' cuntad2n lapula.
Lauora, contadino, lavora forte, Work, peasant, work hard,
quando vai a spartire,poco t il When you go toshare it out, there's
grano; little corn;
lavora, contadino, lavora sicuro, Work, peasant, work confidently,
alpadrone il grano, a1 contadino la The corn goes to the owner, to the
pula. peasant the chaff.

From Venetia: Tuti sti marineri a 'nu galera,

Ma Toni belofusselopicd:
E fusselo picd perch2 12 belo,
Percht la vita sua me dd martelo.
Tutti questi marinai a una galera, Let all these sailors be sent to a
galley,
ma Toni bellofosse impiccato: But fair Toni, I would see him
hanged,
efosse impiccatopercht t bello, I'd like him hanged because he's
fair,
percht la vita sua mi dd martello. Because his life torments me.

From Friuli: 0ce bit1 lusdr di lune

Che il Signdr nus ha manddt!
A bussd fantatis bielis
No 1'2 fr2guldipe~hat.
Oche be1 chiaro di luna What beautiful moonlight
che il Signore ci ha mandato! The Lord has sent us!
A baciare ragazze belle In kissing beautiful girls,
non c't briciola dipeccato. There's not a scrap of sin.

From Rome: Vepossinodd tante cortellate

Pe'quante messe ha ddetto 1 'arciprete
Pe'quante vorte ha ddetto: Oratefrate.
60 Italian Language Today
V i possano dar tante coltellate May you be stabbed as many times
perquante messe ha detto l'arciprete As are the masses the priest has said
perquante volte ha detto: Orate As many times as he has said: Orate
fratres. fratres.

From Abruzzi: Bbella, chell'altra notte me te 'nzunnaje

Par2 ch'a lu mio late te teneve.
Me revutaje, ca nen fu lu vere!
Pianze 'na nott'e'na ggiurnata 'ndiere.
Bella, l'altra none ti sognai: Fair one, the other night I dreamt of
you:
mipareva che a1 mio fianco ti tenew. I felt I had you at my side.
M i riwltai, e non era vero. I turned, it was not true.
Piansi una notte ed un gionw intero. I wept a whole night and day.

From Naples: La notte 2 lu repuose de la gente,

E i' mescheniello nu' repose maie:
Reposa l'acqua e reposa lu viento,
L u viento abente, e i' n 'abento maie.
L a notte & il riposo della gente, Night is when people rest,
e io, meschinello, non riposo mai. But I , wretched one, never rest.
Riposa l'acqua, riposa il uento, Water rests, the wind rests,
il vento hapace, io non hopace mai. The wind finds peace, I never find
peace.

From Sicily: Calu di sta vanedda lentu lentu,

Pri vidiri cu' m'ama 'nta stu cantu;
Arrivu unn'era lu m2 caru 'ntentu,
L'occhiu mi calu e moru di lu chiantu.
Idda rispusi: 'Ora statti cuntentu,
Picciottu, cchiu nun fari tantu chiantu. '
Scendo da quesro vicolo lento lento, I go down this alley slowly slowly
per vedere chi m'ama in quesro To see someone who loves me in
luogo. this place.
A m w dov'era il mio caro amore, I come to the spot where my dear
love was,
l'occhio mi si abbassa, muoioper il I lower my eyes, I die weeping.
pianto.
Ella rispose: 'Ora sta contento, She replied: 'Be glad now,
ragazzo, piri non fare tanto pianto. ' Boy, do not cry so any more.'
 Italian Dialects 61
F r o m Sardinia: In s'oru 'e su mare
Canta'su rissignolu
Cun boghe dolentia.
No minde podia ilthare
In sa campagna solu
Ca a tie non bidia.
Nell'oro del mare In the gold of the sea
canta l'usignolo The nightingale sings
con voce addolorata. With a sorrowful voice.
Non potevo restare I could not stay
nella campagna solo In the countryside alone
senza vedere te. Without seeing you.

Notes
' We transcribe with the symbols of the International Phonetic Associa-
tion. For many Italian dialects there are several conflicting traditional spel-
ling systems. As is customary we use small capitals for Latin; long vowels
are marked above with a macron (-), short vowels with a breve ('). A
preceding * indicates a form which is reconstructed and not documented.
For the considerations in the text see STUSSI,A . , 'Nota sulla "storia della
lingua italiana"', Paragone, 200, 1966 (pp. 171-178), p. 175.
An isogloss is a line on a map marking the boundary of a linguistic
phenomenon.
In the schematic representation of feet with the symbols of macron and
breve, one marks the 'quantity' of the syllables even though it may conflict
with that of the vowel. The word T E R R ~ S'lands' in metre is represented as a
spondee, i.e., - -. It is inexact to state, as some Latin gramdars do, that a
short vowel may become long 'by position'. The second syllable of LEG~Tis
light (short) in LEGITEP~STBLXM 'he reads a letter', and heavy (long) in LEGIT
S C R ~ P T ~ 'he
~ M reads a text', but the vowel it contains obviously does not
change its quantity and remains short: we have in the first case a free
(~i-TB)and in the second a checked (G~T-SCR~P-) syllable.
In our phonetic transcriptions vowel quantity is marked when it is distinc-
tive or, as here, when it is relevant to the point being made.
See ROHLFS, G . , Grammatica storica della lingua italiana e dei suoi dialetti,
Turin, 1966-1969, par. 212, with a discussion of the positions mentioned
above. .
But agile is a learned word; in popular words one has [dd3] in intervocalic
position: ~ f i ~ i ~ > [ f h d d'he
j e ]flees'.
' From E one would expect [el and not [E],but one often finds [E],[3]instead
of [el, [o] in learned, literary words which did not undergo ordinary,
popular development.
Another, more learned outcome, is [vittsjo]. Forms like vezzo and vizio,
deriving from the same Latin source through different developments, are
usually called 'allotropes' (the term was borrowed from chemistry by the
philologist U. A. Canello in 1878).
O -. .-r 7 . ..' . . ." . .
 Varieties of Italian

1
As we have said (chapters I and 11), it is more realistic to talk about
varieties of Italian (regional or sectional) than about an alleged
standard, which not only does not exist in actual usage, but is not
even an ideal to which existing varieties strive to conform.
Local varieties are not substandard forms of Italian living in the
shadow of a national standard form: they are what Italian consists
of. The differences between them are most conspicuous in the field
of phonology, they are still noticeable in syntax and lexis, but practi-
cally non existent in morphology.
First of all there is intonation in the sense of the general musical
movement of discourse (Italian has several terms for it, such as can-
tilena, cadenza, calata), a cadence which makes the speech of cer-
tain regions (like Liguria, Venetia, Abruzzi, Puglia) clearly
recognizable. There may also be some variation from one part of
Italy to another in the use of intonational systems as part of
grammar.
(a) It is easier to pinpoint differences which concern phonology
proper, although too little satisfactory work has been done on the
description of local varieties of Italian, and this makes it difficult to
give a coherent account region by region. A disservice which
puristic studies have done, in order to prove their point, is to com-
pare educated Florentine, given as the model, with uneducated
non-Florentine varieties (to provide examples of 'mistakes'), so
that there is very little information about uneducated Florentine,
and even less about educated non-Florentine varieties. The way in
which local pronunciations are usually discussed and transcribed
gives the impression that, outside Florence, one Florentine
phoneme is being mistakenly used for another. The reader should
be on his guard against this misinterpretation.
We shall present Florentine phonology (which is best known)
 Varieties of Italian 63
first, and then indicate the main points in which other local varieties
differ from Florentine.'

(i) The Florentine system generally adopted by handbooks and dic-

tionaries of Italian includes seven vowels, twenty-one consonants,
and two semiconsonants (for the classificatory labels see the table
on p. 250).
1 U P t ts tJ k
e o b d dz d3 g
E 3 f S S
a v z
m n P
1 h
r
w j
For fifteen out of twenty-one consonants there is an opposition
between double and ~ i n g l e as , ~ exemplified by the following min-
imal pairs: [p] vs. [pp] rupe 'rock' vs. ruppe 'he broke'; [b] vs. [bb]
libra 'he poises' vs. libbra 'pound'; [t] vs. [tt] grato'grateful' vs. gratto
'I scratch'; [dl vs. [dd] cade 'he falls' vs. cadde 'he fell'; It$] vs. [tts]
luci 'lights' vs. lucci 'pikes'; [d3] vs. [ddg] mogio 'downcast' vs.
moggio 'bushel'; [k] vs. [kk] eco 'echo' vs. ecco 'here is'; [g] vs. [gg]
fuga 'flight' vs. fugga 'may he flee'; [f] vs. [ff] tufo 'tufa' vs. tuffo
'plunge'; [v] vs. [vv] avito 'ancestral' vs. avvito 'I screw'; [s] vs. [ss]
casa 'house' VS. cassa 'box'; [m] vs. [mm] gramo 'wretched' vs.
grammo 'gram'; [n] vs. [nn] cane 'dog' vs. canne 'reeds'; [I] vs. [Ill
mole 'mass' vs molle 'soft'; [r] vs. [rr] caro 'dear' vs. carro 'cart'.
The six consonants to which this opposition does not apply are [ts]
[dz] [$I [PI [h] (which are always double in intervocalic position) and
[z] which is always single; for example vizio 'vice' [vlttsjo]; vizi
'vices' and vizzi 'withered' are both [vitt~i];~ when the consonant is
not intervocalic one has alza 'he lifts' [Iltsa], zio 'uncle' [tsio] (but lo
zio 'the uncle' [lo ttsio] because the word-initial [ts], being preceded
by [lo], becomes intervocalic); mezzo 'half' [mkddzo], ozono 'ozone'
[oddzhno], orzo 'barley' [hrdzo], zero 'zero' [dzkro], lo zero [lo
ddzkro]; ascia 'axe' [Anal; conscio 'conscious' [khnSo]; scemo
'stupid' [JCmo], lo scemo [lo JJCrno]; ogni 'each' [bppi]; gnocco 'a
kind of noodle' [phkko], gli gnocchi [Ici pp3kkil); foglia 'leaf'
[fhh~a],fargli 'to do to him' [fhrhi], gli 'the' [ ~ i ]anche
, gli zii 'also
the uncles' [hoke hhi t t ~ i i ] rosa
; ~ 'rose' [rhza].
64 Italian Language Today
If the fifteen double consonants are considered to be independent
phonological units (rather than adjacent occurrences of the single
ones) we have an inventory of thirty-six consonants instead of
twenty-one.
In Florentine there is a phonological opposition between [el and
[el, [o] and [3], [ts] and [dz], [s] and [z]; each couple, however, is
represented in traditional spelling by one letter only: e, o, z (or z z )
and s respectively. There are in each case minimal pairs, fairly
numerous for the vowels, fewer for the consonants.
Consider for instance the following homographs, for which we
give the meaning of the words with the closed vowel first, and the
meaning of the words with the open vowel second:
accetta 'hatchet' vs. 'he accepts'; affetta 'he slices' vs. 'he affects';
corresse 'that he ran' vs. 'he corrected'; credo 'I believe' vs. 'credo';
esse 'they' (feminine) vs. 'the name of the letters'; legge'law'vs. 'he
reads'; lessi 'boiled' vs. 'I read' (past); pesca 'fishing' vs. 'peach';
premetti 'you premise' vs. 'I pressed'; re 'king' vs. 'the note D'; uenti
'twenty' vs. 'winds';
botte 'barrel' vs. 'blows'; colto 'learned' vs. 'caught'; fosse 'that he
were' vs. 'holes'; imposto 'imposed' vs. ' I post'; indotto 'induced' vs.
'unlearned'; porci 'to put there' vs. 'pigs'; porsi 'to put oneself' vs. 'I
handed'; porti 'to put you' vs. 'you bring'; pose 'he put' vs. 'postures';
posta 'placed' (feminine singular) vs. 'mail'; riposi 'I put away' (past)
vs. 'you rest'; scopo 'I sweep' vs. 'aim'; scorsi 'I glided' vs. 'I
glimpsed'; sorte 'arisen' (feminine plural) vs. 'destiny'; uolgo
'populace' vs. ' I turn'; volto 'face' vs. 'I turn';
and, giving the meaning of the words with the voiceless consonant
first, with the voiced second: zannata 'a bite' (with fangs: zanne) vs.
'clowning' (as of a Zanni); razza 'race' vs. 'ray' (fish); fuso'spindle'
vs. 'fused'; chiese 'he asked' vs. 'churches'.
The number of minimal pairs may be fairly small, but this of
course does not mean that, when one of the two terms of a
phonological opposition occurs, it can be exchanged for the other if
there is no minimal pair. There is still a phonological choice to be
made between, e.g., [el in metto 'I put', pelo 'hair', neve 'snow', and
[E] in sette 'seven', bello 'beautiful', bene 'well'; [o] in rotto 'broken',
come 'how', sole 'sun', and [3] in otto 'eight', cosa 'thing', nuovo
'new'; between [ts] in zio 'uncle', zucchero 'sugar', zampa 'paw',
zecca 'mint', zitto 'silent', zoccolo 'clog', zolfo 'sulphur', zoppo
'lame', zucca 'pumpkin', pazzo 'mad', alzo ' I lift', marzo 'March',
anzi 'rather', and [dz] in zero 'zero', zebra 'zebra', zelo 'zeal', zona
 Varieties of Italian 65
'zone', mezzo 'half', orzo 'barley', pranzo 'meal', razzo 'rocket', gar-
zone 'delivery boy'; between [s] in asino 'donkey', casa 'house', cosi
'thus', riso 'rice', naso 'nose', cosa 'thing', inglese 'English', chiuso
'closed', peso 'weight', and [z] in caso 'case', vaso 'vase', viso 'face',
francese 'French', uso 'use', quasi 'almost'.
Note that the opposition of [el to [ E ] and of [o] to [3] only applies
in stressed or semistressed syllables, and not in unstressed ones,
where the closed vowel is used; there is therefore a distinction
between [affbtta] 'he slices' and [affbtta] 'he affects', but [affettare]
can mean both 'to slice' and 'to affect'.
Some practical suggestions concerning the sounds which in
Florentine correspond to the letters e, o, s, z:
e [el (i) in final stressed positions in ordinary words (see below
for exceptions): re 'king', tre 'three', perch2 'why', poicht 'because';
(ii) in the following verbal endings: Indicative (Present and
Imperfect) and Imperative: -ete (prendete 'take'), Indicative Imper-
fect: -evo etc. (prendevo 'I took'), Future: -remo, -rete (ameremo
'we will love'), Past Definite: -ei, -esti, -2, -emmo, -este, -erono
(temei 'I feared'), Conditional: -resti, -remmo, -reste (ameresti 'you
would love'), Imperfect Subjunctive: -essi, -esse, -essimo, -este,
-essero (vedessi 'you saw' Subjunctive), Past participle: -eso (offeso
'offended'), Infinitive: -ere (potere 'to be able'); (iii) in various
suffixes: -efice (artefice 'creator'), -ese (inglese 'English'), -esimo
(cristianesimo 'Christianity', but not in ordinals), -essa (professores-
sa 'professor' feminine), -etto (libretto 'little book'), -evole (de-
plorevole 'deplorable'), -ezza (debolezza 'weakness'), -mente
(finalmente 'finally'), -mento (ardimento 'boldness').
e [E] (i) in the cluster ie (pieno 'full'), but not when the e belongs
to a suffix where it is closed (ateniese 'Athenian', vecchietto 'little
old man'); (ii) in front of a vowel in words like idea 'idea', lei 'she',
neo 'mole'; (iii) in final stressed position in words like ahimt 'alas',
cafft 'coffee', Most 'Moses', Not 'Noah'; (iv) in the following
verbal endings: Past Definite: -etti, -ette, -ettero (stetti 'I stayed'),
Conditional: -rei, -rebbe, -rebbero (amerei 'I would love'), Present
Participle: -ente (dormiente 'sleeping'), Gerund: -endo (dormendo
'sleeping'); (v) in various suffixes: -ello (poverello 'poor little
thing'), -enne (ventenne 'twenty years old')', -ense (estense 'of the
Estes'), -enza (credenza 'belief'), -esimo (in ordinals, like undi-
cesimo 'eleventh'), -ewe (terrestre 'earthly').
o [o] (i) in various suffixes: -ognolo (verdognolo 'greenish'),
-oio (corridoio 'corridor'), -one (librone 'big book'), -ore (amore
66 Italian Language Today
'love'), -OSO (erboso 'grassy'); (ii) in words in -ondo Cfondo
'bottom', mondo 'world'), -onte Cfonte 'source', fronte 'front',
monte 'mountain').
o [zi] (i) in the cluster uo (cuore 'heart', uomo 'man'), but not
when the o belongs to a suffix where it is closed (affettuoso
'affectionate', liquore 'liquor'); (ii) in the Past Definite: -2, (amd 'he
loved'); (iii) in various suffixes: -010 (barcaiolo 'boatman'), -osi
(artrosi 'arthrosis'), -otto (sempliciotto 'simpleton').
s [s] (i) initial (santo 'saint'), initial of second element in a
compound (girasole 'sunflower'), after consonant (orso 'bear'),
before voiceless consonant (costo 'cost'), double (rosso 'red'); (ii)
in the following verbal endings: Past Definite and Participle: -esi,
-ese, -esero, -eso (accesi 'I lighted', acceso 'lighted'), -osi, -ose,
-osero, -oso (composi 'I composed', roso 'gnawed'); (iii) in various
suffixes: -ese (inglese 'English', but [z] in borghese 'bourgeois',
cortese 'courteous', francese 'French', marchese 'Marquis'), -oso
(bisognoso 'needy'); (iv) in common words like asino 'ass', casa
'house', cosa 'thing', cosi 'so', mese 'month', naso 'nose', peso
'weight', posare 'to rest', riso 'laughter', spesa 'expense'.
s [z] (i) before voiced consonants (smetto 'I stop'); (ii) in the
following verbal endings: Past Definite and Participle: -asi, -use,
-asero, -as0 (invasi 'I invaded',persuasi 'I persuaded', but [s] in rasi
'I shaved', rimasi 'I remained'), -isi, -isi, -isero, -is0 (incisi 'I
incised', misi 'I put', but [s] in risi 'I laughed', sorrisi 'I smiled'),
-mi, -use, -usero, -us0 (esclusi 'I excluded', but [s] in chiusi 'I
closed'); (iii) in the suffix -esimo (ventesimo 'twentieth', cri-
stianesimo 'Christianity'); (iv) in common words like base 'basis',
bisogno 'need', caso 'case', causa 'cause', chiesa 'church', frase
'sentence', misura 'measure', musica 'music', paese 'village', pausa
'pause', poesia 'poetry', precis0 'precise', quasi 'almost', sposa
'bride', uso 'usage', viso 'face'.
z [ts] (i) in various suffixes: -anza (speranza 'hope'), -enza
(credenza 'belief'), -ezza (stranezza 'strangeness'), -ozzo (predicoz-
zo 'telling-off'), -uzzo (medicuzzo 'little doctor'); (ii) in common
words like alzare 'to lift', forza 'force', grazia 'grace', pazzo 'mad',
pezzo 'piece', piazza 'square', pozzo 'pit', prezzo 'price', ragazzo
'boy', stanza 'room', zampa 'paw', zio 'uncle', zucchero 'sugar'.
z [dz] (i) in the suffix -izzare of organizzare 'to organize', but
not in the etymologically different suffix in drizzare 'to straighten'
with [ts]; (ii) in common words like azzurro 'blue', mezzo 'half',
pranzo 'lunch', razzo 'rocket', rozzo 'uncouth', zaino 'rucksack',
 Varieties of Italian 67
zanzara 'mosquito', zero 'zero', zona 'zone'.
Note also the following phenomena:
(A) In intervocalic position (not just within the word, but in the
spoken chain with words adjoining each other) we find [h] or even 0
for [k], [Q] for [p], and [@Ifor [t]. This spirantization, often called
gorgia or aspirazione, presents itself differently according to
(I) which of the consonants is affected, and to what extent: the area
(with Florence, Pistoia and Siena) in which [p] and [t] are spiran-
tized being included in a larger area (with Lucca, Pisa, Livorno,
Grosseto as well) in which [k] is spirantized (or, frequently, elided,
in the provinces of Lucca, Pisa, Livorno); (11) social class and level
of formality, the gorgia as a whole being more widespread and more
marked in uneducated and informal speech; but a spirantization of
intervocalic [k] is a constant characteristic of Florentine speech for
all social classes and at all levels of formality.
(B) Similarly [tJ] and [d3] in intervocalic position are spirantized to
[J] and [3]. There have been many discussions on the relationship
between the [J] resulting from the spirantization of [tJ], as in pece,
and the intervocalic double [JJ] as inpesce. The double consonant is
more fortis than the single one and has a more pronounced degree of
lip rounding, but for practical purposes the same symbol is used
here for the two sounds, repeated twice for the double consonant;
spirantized [tJ] (i.e., [J]) can only occur in intervocalic position,
where a [J] which is not a spirantized [tJ] is always double ([JJ]): the
distinction is therefore systematically represented in our transcrip-
tion.
(C) Syntactic doubling. Certain words cause a doublingof the initial
consonant of the following word. The semiconsonants [J] and [w]
are not doubled, and doubling does not occur when it would pro-
duce an unacceptable cluster: a sapere [a ssapkre] 'to know' but a
stare [a sthre] 'to stay'; t tradotto [Ettradbtto] 'it is translated' but t
spostato [E sposthto] 'it is moved'. Syntactic doubling is caused by
(I) all words ending with a stressed vowel (here we can include so-
called strong monosyllables, i.e., monosyllables which can carry
sentence stress); if they are polysyllabic they have an accent mark in
traditional spelling, if they are monosyllabic they may or may not
have an accent mark. For instance: andb 'he went', cantb 'he
sang', perch2 'because', cosl 'thus', perb 'however', etc.; t 'he is', piu
'more', pub 'he can', do 'I give', gru 'crane', re 'king', blu 'blue', tre
'three', me 'me', te 'you', st? 'himself', cib 'that', no 'no', sl 'yes', gicf
'already', giu 'down', Id 'there', 11 'there', qua 'here', qui 'here', nt
68 Italian Language Today
'neither', etc.;
(11) a series of so-called weak monosyllables (i.e., monosyllables
which are always unstressed; emphatic stress is of course not
relevant here) such as e 'and', o 'or', a 'to', da 'from', fra 'between',
che 'that', se 'if', ma 'but', etc., and a few polysyllables which are not
stressed finally: come 'like', dove 'where', qualche 'some', sopra
'on', sovra 'on'.
There are two reasons for syntactic doubling: (a) synchronic: final
stressed vowels are short, but syllabic structure does not admit
stressed short vowels followed by single consonants (ire); of the
two possible structures, VC and vc, the former is selected in the
cases of syntactic doubling; (6) diachronic: syntactic doubling
represents the assimilation of a final Latin consonant ( ~ < E T~, < X D ,
O(AUT, etc.) to the initial consonant of the following word. The first
reason (or the first and the second concurrently) apply to the cases
in (I), the second to the cases in (11). It is generally accepted that
some words, such as se<si, cause doubling by analogy with other
words which cause it for etymological reasons.
As a result of the phenomena mentioned in (A), (B) and (C) we
have the following variations between [h] [k] [kk], [3] [d3] [ddj], [J]
[tJ] [ttJ] [JJ]: in words like casa 'house', giorno 'day', cena 'supper',
scena 'scene':
di casa [di hhsa] per casa [per kAsa] a casa [a kkhsa]
di giomo [di 3bmo] per g i o m [per d3brnoIa giorno [a ddjbmo]
di cena [di Jbna] per cena [per tJbna] a cena [a ttJbna]
di scena [di JJkna] per scena [per Jkna] a scena [a JJkna]
Note that [f] may represent the initial of cena in di cena and of scena
in per scena. In intervocalic position we find [JJ] both in di scena and
in a scena: this is why some handbooks state that syntacticdoubling
does not apply to [I], [A], [p], [ts], [&I, i.e., to the consonants which
in intervocalic position are always double anyway.
Syntactic doubling is not usually represented in traditional spel-
ling, but etymologically the same phenomenon is at work in a
prendere 'to take' [a pprkndere] and apprendere 'to learn'
[apprkndere] (D+P>[PP]), e bene 'and well' [e bbkne] and ebbene
'well' [ebbkne] ( ~ + ~ > [ b b ] )etc.
, (The two items in each pair are
homophonous: word separation in our transcription is only conven-
tional).
Some distinctions must be noted: te loporta [te lo p3rtaI 'he brings
it to you' vs. a te lo porta [a tte 110 pbrta] 'it is to you that he brings it',
 Varieties of Italian 69
with [I] in the first case because te is weak, and [Ill in the second case
because te is strong; se lo prende [se lo prknde] 'he takes it' with [I]
because se is weak, per s t lo prende [per se 110 prknde] 'he takes it for
himself' with [ll] because s t is strong, and se loprende [se 110 prknde]
'if he takes it' with [Ill because se 'if' causes doubling; come, dove,
sopra cause doubling when they are used as prepositions: sopra la
tavola [sbpra lla thvola] 'on the table', but not as adverbs: di sopra
c 3 la soffitta [di sbpra t$e Ilasoffitta] 'upstairs there is the attic'. The
imperatives of dare 'to give', fare 'to do', stare 'to stay', andare 'to
go' may or may not cause doubling: sta calmo [sta khlmo] or [sta
kkhlmo]: they do not cause doubling when they are derived from
the imperatives dai, fai, stai, vaireduced to da', fa', sra', va'; they do
cause it when they are the original dd, fa, sta, va; similarly for dire
'to say' the imperative may (di) or may not (di') cause doubling; the
third person singular of the present indicative causes the doubling:
so [va vvia] may mean either 'he goes away' or 'go away!' but [va via]
can only mean 'go away!'.
Doubling may be inhibited by a syntactic boundary or it may be
introduced if a weak monosyllable becomes stressed. This explains
some often quoted examples which appear to be self-contradictory,
such as: 'qualche' raddoppia, 'di' non raddoppia [kwhlke raddbppja
di nnon raddbppja] 'qualche doubles, di does not double', without
the normally required doubling after qualche, because it does not
combine with the following word to form a noun phrase, and with a
normally refused doubling after di, because, being quoted, the word
acquires a stress, thus ending in a stressed vowel.
Some words behave idiosyncratically: Dio 'God' doubles its ini-
tial consonant after any preceding vowel: not only [a ddio] 'to God',
but also [di ddio] 'of God'; this is apparent also in the obligatory use
of the article gli in the plural: gli does not occur in front of single
consonants, and gli dei is [Ai ddki] 'the gods'. Also unexpectedly the
initial of Cristo 'Christ' does not double after Gesu 'Jesus': [dgezh
krfsto], and the initial of santo doubles in Spirito Santo [splrito
sshnto] 'Holy Ghost' and Ognissanti [o~yisshnti]'All Saints'.
Many other characteristics could be mentioned, such as
(D) the use of [3] instead of a diphthong, in words like [b;lno] 'good',
[n;lvo] 'new', etc.
(E) the tendency to avoid consonant endings, particularly if the final
syllable is stressed: hence [rhmme] for rum 'rum', [trhmme] for tram
'tram', [sphrte] for sport 'sport', [ko~~phkke] for cognac 'brandy',
[ghsse] for gas 'gas'. In front of a vowel (at the beginning of a suffix
70 Italian Language Toduy
or of a following word) there is a sort of counterpart of syntactic
doubling: cognacchino [ k o ~ ~ ~ l a k k i n'ao ]small brandy', cognac
invecchiato [kopphkk invekkjhto] 'aged brandy', gassoso [gassbso]
'gaseous', gas asfissiante [gass asfissjhnte] 'poison gas'. This does
not apply to proclitics: non importa [non impbrta] 'it does not
matter', son andati [son andhti] 'they have gone'.
(F) One can also mention a Tuscan, but not Florentine, pronuncia-
tion with the palatal stops [c] and [j] instead of [kj] [gj], which is at
the origin of spellings such as mastio (cf. maschio) 'donjon', diaccio
(cf. ghiaccio) 'icy'. This is also widely used in central and southern
Italy. Purists accept it as a correct alternative, although admitting
that it is not common.

(ii) We shall now discuss some phonological differences between

other varieties of Italian and Florentine.
In many varieties of Italian points (i) (A)-(F) listed above are not
found. The situation is very complex as regards [el vs. [el and [o] vs.
[a]. There are varieties of Italian in which there is only one mid-
front and one mid-back vowel, e.g., in Sicily, Sardinia, parts of
Venetia. In other varieties the phonological opposition between
open and closed applies only to the front or only to the back vowel.
For instance in Turin there is only [a] but both [el and [el; the
opposition between the latter two however is only possible in a
stressed, word final position, otherwise they are in complementary
distribution, with [el in a free syllable or in a syllable checked by a
double consonant, and [E] in other checked syllable^.^
In most varieties of Italian the opposition exists for both vowels,
but it may be neutralized in many positions; for instance, in some
northern varieties in syllables checked by double consonants, or in
final stressed free syllables there is only [E] and not [el, as in bici-
cletta [bitJiklBtta] 'bicycle', stella [stklla] 'star', re [re] 'king'.
Corresponding to Florentine [E] one often finds [el, as in piede
[pjtde] 'foot', breve [brtve] 'short', bene [btne] 'well' in northern
Italy and in parts of southern Italy (Naples, Salento, Sicily, Sar-
dinia); corresponding to Florentine [o] one often finds [a], as in sole
[s31e] 'sun', colpa [kblpa] 'guilt' in Piedmont, Liguria, and in parts of
southern Italy (e.g., in Puglia).
What makes the situation particularly complicated is that even
those varieties which have phonological oppositions between [el
and [E], [o] and [a], often use them differently from Florentine.
Puristic handbooks devote a lot of attention to the words (there are
 Varieties of' Italian 71
a couple of hundred) in which Rome (e.g., with lettera [Itttera]
'letter', bistecca [bistkkka] 'steak', colonna [kolbnna] 'column',
dimora [dimbra] 'residence') differs from Florence (with [Ikttera],
[bisttkka], [kolbnna], [dimbra]). In other varieties, where a com-
parison with the local dialect is possible, it is clear that no simple
correlation can be found between the local variety of Italian and
either the local dialect or the Florentine variety. For instance in
Venice in the local variety of Italian one has bene [btne] 'well', re
[re] 'king', bosco [bbsko] 'wood', ogni [$i] 'each', and in the dialect
bet^], [ r ~ ][bbsko],
, [bpi] vs. Florentine [bkne], [re], [bbsko], [bpj~i];
but for posto [pbsto] 'place', vengo [vkt~go]'I come' the dialect, with
[pbsto], [vkpo] has the same vowels as Florentine [pbsto], [vkt~go];
on the other hand in piove [pjbve] 'it rains', sporco [sphko] 'dirty',
poco [pbko] 'a little' one has the same vowels in the Venetian and in
the Florentine varieties of Italian, as against the Venetian dialect
[pjbvel, [spbrkol, [pbkol.
As far as double consonants are concerned, in northern Italy
there is a tendency to reduce them. In educated pronunciation this
tendency (owing to the manner in which Italian was originaliy learnt
and used, mainly as a written, literary medium) has been checked in
those cases where doubling is represented by spelling, but it has
prevailed where spelling was no guide, i.e., for [p] [A] [I], and for
those [ts] and [dz] which are represented in spelling by a single z : so
there is pugno [phpo] 'fist', figlio [fiho] 'son', uscio [hJo] 'door', vizi
[vitsi] 'vices', Gaza [ghdza], but vizzi [vlttsi] 'withered', gazza
[gbddza] 'jay'. There is of course no syntactic doubling (except in
cases in which it survives fossilized in spelling: ebbene 'well', chic-
chessia, 'anyone', etc.).
In central and southern Italy different conditions apply. Double
consonants are usually the same as in Tuscan, and in some cases
they are used where Tuscan has a single consonant. But one also
finds single instead of double: in Rome (as in northern Latium, the
Marches, and western and southern Tuscany) there is a tendency to
reduce [rr] to [r]: [fkro] for ferro 'iron', [tkra] for terra 'earth', [a
rbma] for a Roma 'to Rome', but [a nnhpoli] for a Napoli 'to
Naples'. There are parts of central and southern Italy where a
distinction is made between single [ ~ ~ I c TasI ,in nazione [natsjbne]
'nation', and double [tts]<crl, PTI,as in azione [attsjbne] 'action',
concezione [kontjettsjbne] 'conception'; in the extreme south in
learned words, which do not follow popular development, there is a
single [ts], which is voiced to [dz], as in vizio [vidzjo] 'vice'.
72 Italian Language Today
Generally in central and southern Italy intervocalic, and some-
times initial, [b] [d3] and [j] are doubled: roba [rbbba] 'stuff', agile
[hddgile] 'agile', la bella genre [la bbblla ddgbnte] 'the fine people',
era buio [bra bbbjjo] 'it was dark'. Other doubling phenomena are
more limited, e.g., initial [dl in Calabria: la danza [la ddhndza] 'the
dance', initial [r] in Sicily and Sardinia: la riva [la rrlva] 'the shore',
and sporadically in other cases: stomaco [stbmmako] 'stomach'.
The opposition of [ts] vs. [dz] in northern Italy is neutralized in an
initial position, where we only find [dz]; the use of [dz] and not [ts]
initially is also found in Sicily, Sardinia, and parts of the south. It is
gaining ground in the rest of Italy, including Tuscany. In parts of
southern Italy there is a tendency to sonorize the affricate in a
postconsonantal position: alzare [aldzhre] 'to lift', calza [khldza]
'stocking', marzo [mhrdzo] 'March'; in the extreme south we find
voicing of the single affricate, in intervocalic position as well: grazie
[grhdzje] 'thank you', nazione [nadzjbne] 'nation'.
Even in Florentine the opposition between [s] and k] exists only
in an intervocalic position; in a preconsonantal position there is [s]
in front of a voiceless consonant and [z] in front of a voiced one; in a
prevocalic initial position there is [s], in a postconsonantal position
there is [s] as in falso [fhlso] 'false', but assimilation to a following
consonant prevails: disbrigo [dizbrigo] 'dispatch', dislocare [dizlo-
khre] 'to dislocate', transvolare [tranzvolhre] 'to fly across'. In
northern Italy we find only [z], and in central and southern Italy
only [s] in an intervocalic position: so [s] and [z] are allophones in
complementary distribution: they are phonologically opposed only
in Tuscan. But from the point of view of surface oppositions there
are cases of [s] contrasting with [z] in northern Italy, in intervocalic
position, as in presento, with [s] meaning 'I have a premonition', and
with [z] '1 present'. This happens because a morpheme-initial [s] may
be preserved as voiceless in an intervocalic position as in ventisei
'twenty-six', ventisette 'twenty-seven', risentiro 'resentful', risolvere 'to
resolve', proseguire 'to proceed', presidente 'president', risalire 'to go
up again', riserva 'reserve', risorgere 'to rise again', trasognato
'dreamy'. But there are many cases where it is no longer felt to be
morpheme-initial and northern Italian usually has [z] as against
Florentine [s]: disegno 'drawing', designato 'designated', desiderare
'to desire', resistere 'to resist', risarcire 'to reimburse', risaltare 'to
show up', risultare 'to result', and with trans-: transalpino 'trans-
alpine', transatlantico 'transatlantic', transazione 'transaction',
transigere 'to compromise', transitiuo 'transitive', transito 'transit',
 Varieties of Italian 73
transitorio 'transitory', transizione 'transition'.
These are the main phonemic differences. But there are many
phonetic ones, some typically and permanently characterizing the
local variety in which they appear, some dependent on the degree of
education and formality.
Considering vowels first: one finds a palatalized [re] instead of [a]
particularly in Emilia-Romagna and Puglia (the inhabitants of
Parma and Bari pronounce the names of their towns in a way which
is teasingly represented by other Italians as Perma and Beri). A vel-
arized variety of [a] verging towards [3] is found in Piedmont and
Liguria, particularly before [I]+ consonant, in words like alto'high',
caldo 'hot', where the [l] is also velarized. In Emilia one finds [ae] for
[E]in words like martello 'hammer', [I] for [i] and [u] for [u] in words
like fitto 'thick', tutto 'all'. In Sicily one finds [I] for [i] (hence a
jocular spelling like seceleano to refer to the local pronunciation),
and in many parts of southern Italy [a] for unstressed vowels
(particularly for [i] [el [o]); this is most noticeably marked in the
case of final vowels, which may disappear altogether in Abruzzi,
Puglia, Lucania and Campania. In parts of northern Italy final
stressed vowels are long, as in perch&[perkk:] 'why', te [ t ~ : ]'you1.
As far as semiconsonants are concerned, in Emilia [w] tends to
lose its semiconsonantal character and to become a [v]: one hears
[vbmo] for uomo 'man', [evrbpa] for Europa 'Europe', [lAvra] for
Laura, [aftombbile] for automobile 'car' (with [v] being devoiced in
front of a voiceless consonant). The opposite is found in parts of
southern Italy where [j] and [w] become fully vocalized, as in
[bubno] for buono 'good', [itri] for ieri 'yesterday', each with three
syllables: [j] or [i] are often heard between a palatal and the fol-
lowing sound in the south: [tsikko] for cieco 'blind', [Jibndza] for
scienza '~cience'.~
Proceeding to consonants: one notes that an intervocalic voice-
less stop in northern Italy (except Venetia) and Sardinia is usually
more fortis than in Florence, as in [pap-a]for papa 'popel,[pat.At-a]
for patata 'potato', [amik-a] for amica 'friend'. In parts of central
and southern Italy (Latium, Umbria, the Marches, Abruzzi, Cam-
pania) it is Ienis, as in [i Q&i] for ipapi'the popes', [la badAda] for la
patata, [amiga] for amica; and may spirantize to [PI [a] [v] in
informal speech. These consonants may be interpreted by speakers
of other varieties of Italian as voiced (because voiced consonants
are lenes). Actual sonorization is often found in the south after
nasals, as in [kwQndo] for quanto 'how much', [hr~ge]for anchc
74 Italian Language Today
'also', [khmbo] for campo 'field', [mhndga] for mancia 'tip',
[avandzhre] for auanzare 'to advance'. Also in central and southern
ltaly [s] preceded by [n] [r] [I] tends to become [ts] (and, as we have
seen, particularly after [n], may be voiced to [dz]): [fbrtse] for forse
'perhaps', [tbltse] for tolse 'he removed', [kontsbntso] and
[kondzbndzo] for consenso 'consent'. In the north [nz] for [ns] is
used in the Trentino- Alto Adige: [penzjbne] for pensione
'boarding-house'. In front of a consonant [s] is often palatalized in
southern Italy, and in Piedmont and Emilia: [bhJko] for bosco
'wood', [Jkhla] for scala 'stairs'.
Intervocalic [tJ] is reduced to [J] not only in Tuscany but also in
central Italy and in many parts of the south; but the parallelTuscan
reduction of [d3] to [3] is not found in central and southern Italy
because, as we have seen, [d3] is here always double.
In northern Italy the sibilants are usually more retracted than in
Florentine: one finds [shnto] for santo 'saint', [khssa] for cassa 'box',
[ k k a ] for casa 'house'; instead of palato-alveolar sibilantsone may
find [s] or [Sj], as in, [stmo] for scemo 'fool', [lhsja] for lascia 'leave'.
The Bolognese in particular are made fun of by other Italians for
'interchanging' the alveolar sibilant, e.g., of si 'yes', and the palato-
alveolar sibilant, e.g., of sci 'ski'. In uneducated speech instead of
affricates one may find sibilants, as in [grhsje] for grazie'thank you',
or, in Emilia, dental fricatives, as in [pheeo] for pazzo 'mad',
[mkbClo] for mezzo 'middle'. In the Veneto palatal stops are found
in words like [amici] for amici 'friends', [ajlto] for agiro 'acted',
where [tJ] and [d3] arc used in other varieties.
Parallel to [sj] instead of [J] in northern Italy one may find [nj]
where Florentine has [p] and [Ij] where Florentine has [A]. But
northern varieties of Italian may also employ a distinction between
a short vowel followed by [lj] [nj] [sj] and a long vowel followed by
[A] [ p ] [$I (these being single and not double as in Florentine): [l
ithlja] for l'Ztalia 'Italy' vs. [li th:Aa] for li taglia 'he cuts them'. As
this goes against the rules of Tuscan syllabic structure, northerners
are teased by Florentines for saying l'ltaglia instead of l'ltalia and li
talia instead of li taglia.'
In central and southern Italy we may find [A] for [Ij] and [JI] for
[nj], thus introducing an opposition of single vs. double, as in [bho]
for olio 'oil' vs. [fbhho] for foglio 'sheet', [krhpo] for cranio 'skull' vs.
[sthp p o l for stagno 'pond'.
In the north, particularly in Venetia, a nasal tends not to assimi-
late to a following consonant, but to appear in front of any con-
 Varieties of Italian 75
sonant as a velar [g], with strong nasalization of the preceding
vowel: [ k h ~ p o ](or even [khpo]) for campo 'field', [ s h ~ t ofor
] santo
'saint', [pAgtJ'a] for pancia 'belly' (this is the reason for common
misspellings like canpo, anpio, etc., for campo, ampio, etc.). This
happens also in word final position ([sar) mark01 for San Marco
'Saint Mark', [Or) padre] for un padre 'a father'), even in front of a
vowel: [kdn affbtto] for con affetto 'with love', [ndg agkbra] for non
ancora 'not yet').
In Tuscan after a final -[n] or -[r] there is a tendency to introduce
a prosthetic [i] in front of a word beginning with [s]+consonant; this
may even be represented in traditional spelling, per ischerzo 'as a
joke', in Isuizzera 'in Switzerland'.
Consonant clusters are sometimes eliminated by the introduction
of weak epenthetic vowels, particularly in the south ([probbelkma]
for problema 'problem') and in Emilia ([padere] for padre
'father'). In Florentine there are frequent assimilations: [i rre] for il
re 'the king', [i kkhne] for il cane 'the dog', [tbnniko] for tecnico
'technical' vs. southern [tkkkeniko]. Vowel clusters are avoided in
parts of the south (particularly in Abruzzi) by the introduction of a
glottal stop or voiced fricative: [alle?hto] or [allehhto] for alleato
'ally'.
Many other local features could be added: for instance the pre-
palatal [r] used in Piedmont and Liguria, or the retroflex [it] [ a ]
used in Sicily and south Calabria, as in [tckno] for treno 'train'.
Syntactic doubling, which, as we have said, is absent in the north,
in central and southern Italy follows rules somewhat different from
the Florentine ones. For instance in Rome da 'from', dove 'where'
and the names of the musical notes d o not cause doubling; come
'like' does, but only in comparative expressions ([kbme tte] come re
'like you', vs. [kbme va] come ua? 'how are you?'); lo, la, li, le only
double their initial consonants if their vowels are elided in front of a
stressed vowel: [E11 Animal t l'anima 'it is the soul' vs. [E1 animalel t
l'animale 'it is the animal', [E la dhnna] t la donna 'it is the woman';
di 'of', da 'from', ne 'about it', nel 'in the', non 'not' never double
their initial consonants; and chiesa 'church', cosi 'thus', Id 'there', 11
'there', malattia 'illness', maledetto 'damned', maschera 'mask', piu
'more', qua 'here', qui 'here', sedia 'chair' always do. In southern
Italy there is no syntactic doubling after polysyllables ending in a
stressed vowel, nor after ha 'he has', chi 'who', da 'from', o 'or', sta
'he stays', ua 'he goes'.
76 Italian Language Today
(b) In the field of syntax and morphology the following features can
be mentioned, at various levels of informality:
(i) in northern varieties of Italian (A) the use of the perfect at the
expense of the past historic; (B) the suppression of the article in
expressions like mia mamma 'my mother', mio papb 'my father';
(C) the use of the object instead of the subject form of personal
pronouns, as in the title I1 padrone sono me 'The master is me' (for
the third person the forms lui, lei, loro are now commonly used as
subjects in literary Italian, see chapter V. 9(a)(ii)); (D) construc-
tions like sono dietro a fare 'I am doing', non stare a fare 'do not do',
quando che 'when', mentre che 'while', etc.
(ii) in Tuscan (A) the use of the object instead of the subject form of
the pronoun, as in te sei 'you are'; (B) the use of unstressed subject
pronouns as in e' dice 'he says', gli 2 'it is', la parla 'she speaks'; (C) a
very frequent8 use of noi si +
third person singular verb at the
expense of the first person plural (this construction also belongs to
other local varieties in which the first person plural form of the verb
is more vital than in Tuscan); (D) forms like vedanofor vedono'they
see', dasti for desti 'you gave', se io dassi for se io dessi 'if I gave'.
(iii) in central and southern Italian (A) frequent interchanges of
conditional and subjunctive, so that one finds all combinations: se
direi farei, se direi facessi, se dicessi farei, se dicessi facessi 'if I said, I
would do'; (B) the indicative is used where the literary tradition
would require the subjunctive, as in spero che viene 'I hope he
comes', more frequently than in ordinary colloquial usage, where
the same tendency however is present; (C) a very frequent use of
the present instead of the future; (D) the extension of the passive to
constructions like voglio essere spiegato questo, desidero essere
imparato questo 'I want this to be explained to me', 'I wish to be
taught this'; (E) the construction with a of animate direct objects:
vedo a Ugo 'I see Ugo', and a frequent use of the type amico a
'friend of', figlio a 'son of', with a instead of di; (F) in the Sicilian
variety the order siciliano sono 'I am Sicilian' is found, used not for
expressiveness but as the unmarked construction.
(c) Lexis In 1956 R. Riiegg published the results of a linguistic
inquiry he had carried out in Italy;9 124 speakers from 54 Italian
provinces had been asked which words they used for 242 common
notions. What emerged appeared to be rather dramatic: only for
one notion 'a strong coffee, drunk at a bar' did all speakers use the
 Varieties of Italian 77
same word, espresso. For most notions on the list there was no single
word common to all 54 provinces. But it would be wrong to con-
clude from this that people from different parts of Italy have only
the word espresso in common.
It is natural that words adopted in recent years in connection with
new technological developments should be the same throughout the
country, and that in fields administered by a central state authority
terminology should be unified. But for objects produced locally
there are often stil! no terms common to all regions. The small piece
of thick cloth used to grip the handles of pots and pans just off the
stove ('kettle holder', 'oven cloth') has no national Italian term: it is
called presa, presina in Tuscan, but these words are not used in other
regions which have patta, pattina, chiappino, pugnetta, cuscinetto,
etc.; similarly for 'shoe laces' we find not only stringhe but also lacci,
laccetti, laccioli, legacci, legaccioli, aghetti, etc.; the 'plumber' is
called idraulico, but also fontaniere, lanternaio, lattoniere, stagnaio,
stagnaro, stagnino, trombaio, etc. Lavandino, acquaio, secchiaio,
lavabo, lavello, scafa, sciacquatore are used in different parts of
Italy for 'sink' andlor 'basin'; a coat hanger is often called ometto in
northern Italy, gruccia in central Italy and stampella in southern
Italy (attaccapanni is a more supraregional word, also meaning
'coat hook'). For marinare la scuola 'to play truant', bucare is used
in Piedmont, fare la manca in Venetia, far forca in Tuscany, far sega
in central Italy.
In many cases the terms preferred in different parts of Italy, like
formaggio in the north and cacio in Tuscany 'cheese', can be consi-
dered supraregional and may be used indifferently. In other cases
terms are limited to a more local usage; we list some according to
their geographical origin:
In the north one finds braghe for calzoni 'trousers', Vera for fede
'wedding ring', and Piedmontese arrivare for capitare 'happen'.
chiamare for domandare 'ask', Lombard michetta for panino 'bread
roll', bauscia for sciocco 'silly', Venetian altana for terrazza (a kind
of roof garden), balcone for finestra 'window'.
Tuscan dialectalisms are albero for pioppo 'poplar', anello for
ditale 'thimble', anno for 1 'annoscorso 'last year', balocco for giocat-
tolo 'toy', chicche for dolci 'sweets', gota for guancia 'cheek',
granata for scopa 'broom', infreddatura for raffreddore 'cold', mota
for fango 'mud'.
Southern dialectalisms are buttare for versare 'to spill', carnez-
zeria for macelleria 'butcher's', controra for siesta 'siesta', coppola
78 Italian Language Today
for berretto 'cap', scorno for vergogna 'shame', stare for essere, as in
sta contento 'he is pleased', tenere for avere, as in tiene fame 'he is
hungry', trovare for cercare 'to look for'.

2
So far some of the differences between local varieties of Italian have
been discussed. To conclude this chapter some features will be listed
which are common to many local varieties and can be said to charac-
terize a chronological rather than a geographical variety, i.e.,
contemporary Italian as against earlier stages documented by the
literary language of previous centuries.
(a) There is an enlargement of the range of acceptable phonological
structures, in particular with regard to consonantal endings. Words
of foreign origin like sport, and abbreviations like MEC 'Common
Market', are not treated as extraneous items clashing with the rules
of Italian phonology. This development must have been facilitated
in northern Italy by the fact that in Gallo-Italian dialects complex
consonantal clusters can occur in all positions.
(b) There is a tendency to eliminate or reduce the difference bet-
ween the various shapes traditionally taken by words depending on
their respective positions in the sentence: (i) there are fewer pros-
thetic vowels: per scherzo 'as a joke' rather than per ischerzo; (ii)
there is a less frequent fall of final vowels: la amica 'the friend', una
opera 'a work', gli italiani 'the Italians', andare bene 'to go well', fare
adagio 'to go slowly', etc., without elision or truncation, are
becoming more and more common; le energie 'the energies' is now
the norm, and l'energie is felt to be rather odd; (iii) forms like quelli
'those' and belli 'beautiful' are frequently used where the traditional
norm requires quei, bei, or quegli, begli; for other words this process
is now complete and forms like capei and capegli for capelli 'hair1, tai
or tagli for tali 'such', gli for li 'them' (as in gli ascolta 'he listens to
them') are so archaic as to be excluded from modern usage; (iv) the
fused forms of preposition + article are more and more frequently
substituted by the separate forms: con il, con la 'with the' rather
than col, colla; with per the fused forms pel, pella 'for the', etc., are
obsolete.
(c) In the field of morphology the old ending in -aof the first person
singular of the imperfect indicative has disappeared altogether from
current usage, and has been replaced by an analogical -0. We can
 Varieties of Italian 79
see the process in action when Manzoni changes the imperfect end-
ings from -a to -0 in his revision of Ipromessi sposi; but the tenacity
of the literary ending in -a is such that one of the best Italian gram-
mars written in English still gives -a in its verb tables (Grandgent
and Wilkins). Forms like siano 'let them be', stiano 'let them stay',
have definitively overcome sieno, stieno which now sound old-
fashioned; there is a tendency for -ei to prevail over -etti in the past
historic (temei rather than temetti 'I feared'). An invariable dative
gli 'to him, to her, to it, to them', is becoming increasingly common
also for the feminine (instead of le) and even more so for the plural
(instead of (a) 1010).
(d) In the sphere of word formation we find:
(i) a tendency to shorten words, as in cine, or cinema for cinemato-
grafo 'cinema', moto for motocicletta 'motorcycle', auto for
automobile 'car', etc.; in teenage slang matusa for matusalemme
'Methuselah', to indicate someone no longer a teenager;
(ii) a more frequent use of abbreviations made up of initial letters or
parts of words (sigle). Some of these are pronounceable as indi-
vidual words like UDI [hdi] Unione Donne Italiane, CIGA [tslga]
Compagnia italiana grandi alberghi, UTET [Jtet] Unione
tipografico-editrice torinese; they may be punning abbreviations as in
F I A T [flat] Fabbrica italiana automobili Torino which is also the
Latin word popularly known from the formulas of Catholic liturgy
(as in fiat voluntas Dei). Other abbreviations are not pronounceable
as individual words, and are then modified, as MSI pronounced
[mis] Movimento sociale italiano, or pronounced letter by letter as
D C [ditji] Democrazia cristiana,1° PC1 [pitjii] Partito comunista
italiano (also [pits11 for Partito comunista). Abbreviations made
up of parts of words are sometimes called parole macedonia ('cock-
tail words'), for instance Confindustria: Confederazione generale
dell'industria italiana, Polfer: Polizia ferroviaria. Abbreviations
are used, like other nouns, with the article; the gender and number
of the abbreviation normally depend on the full form: la DC, il PCI,
le ACLI [hkli] Associazioni cristiane dei lavoratori iraliani. In many
cases abbreviations such as NATO [nhto], CIA [tsia], DDT[diditl],
DNA [dienneh] are commonly used although most people who use
them are unable to give the full expressions which they stand for;
(iii) the frequent formation of nouns from verbs through zero
suffixation, as in ammanco 'deficit', blocco 'block', bonifica 'land
reclamation', convalida 'ratification', decollo 'take-off', qualifica
80 Italian Language Today
'qualification', rettifica 'correction', scontento 'discontent', verifica
'verification';
(iv) verbs deriving from nouns, with the suffixes -are, -eggiare 'to
be like -',-izzare 'to make like -':contattare 'to contact', presenziare
'to attend', revisionare 'to overhaul', sovvenzionare 'to subsidize';
maramaldeggiare (often with a direct object) 'to act like
Maramaldo', i.e., to strike a man who is down, comunisteggiare 'to
act like a communist' vs. comunistizzare 'to make something com-
munist'; ipotizzare 'to hypothesize', nazionalizzare 'to nationalize',
strumentalizzare 'to instrumentalize', 'to exploit';
(v) the use of adjectives in -ale, often to replace a noun comple-
ment: stato confusionale 'state of confusion', condizione conflittuale
'condition of conflict', potere decisionale 'power of decision',
iniziativa direzionale 'managerial initiative';
(vi) the use of prefixes like a- as in apartitico 'non party', inter- as in
interdisciplinare 'interdisciplinary', para- with the value of 'quasi-',
as in parastatale 'government controlled' and not as in the more
traditional compounds like parafulmine 'lightening conductor', pre-
as in prescolare 'pre-school', post- as in postbellico 'postwar', super-
as in supertestimone 'key witness'; particularly striking is the use of
prefixoids, i.e., elements halfway between prefixes and nouns
occupying the first place in a compound, for instance aero-, auto-,
avio-, mini-, moro-, radio-, tele-, etc.; these may develop until one of
the meanings they acquire in a particular compound becomes
primary and reappears in different compounds: autoscuola is not
'self-schooling' as the original meaning of auto (as in automobile
'car') suggests, but a 'driving school'; telespettatore is not a viewer
from far away, but a 'television viewer';
(e) many adjectives are used as nouns, originally through omission
of the noun they accompanied: la (squadra) celere 'flying squad', un
(treno) accelerato 'a stopping train', il (comitato) direttivo 'manage-
ment committee', la (polizia) stradale 'traffic police'; many other
expressions are similarly shortened, as in un rigore (for calcio di
rigore) 'penalty kick'; un vertice (for un incontro a1 vertice) 'a summit
meeting';
(f) a very productive use of juxtapositions, probably on the model of
English compound words, but always following the Italian pattern
of modified first, modifier second: borsa valori 'stock exchange',
 Varieties of Italian 81
cassa integrazione 'supplementary payment fund', donna t i p 'typ-
ical woman', trasmissioni radio (and then, with radio used as a pre-
fixoid, radiotrasmissioni) 'radio broadcasts', treno merci 'goods
train', and, with elements producing juxtaposed pairs used adjecti-
vally, formato cartolina 'postcard format', tipo cameriere 'waiter
style', uso spiaggia 'beach style'; and, with coordinated terms, testa
coda 'right about turn', missile terra aria 'land-air missile'.
(g) In the field of syntax we find an accentuation of the tendency,
developed since the eighteenth century, to abandon complex,
subordinating, Latin-style sentences, in favour of shorter, coor-
dinating, French-style ones. In particular we may note:
(i) a remarkable increase in the use of nominal style (fairly common
in the nineteenth century as well); nominal sentences are particu-
larly frequent in newspaper headlines (sulle misure anti-crisi con-
f r o n t ~tra i partiti 'anti-crisis measures inter-party debate') and in
descriptions (macchine uelocissime sulla strada 'cars speeding along
the road'); nominal forms of the verb are commonly employed
(sfrecciare di macchine sulla strada 'cars shooting along the road');
(ii) pronominal enclisis (except for imperatives and infinite forms of
the verbs) has become obsolete and survives only in crystallized
forms like affittasi 'to let', vendesi 'for sale', or come douevasi
dimostrare 'QED';
(iii) a much more limited use of the past historic particularly in
informal spoken language;
(iv) a large use of the narrative, or historical, imperfect (see chapter
VI. 13(b)(iv)), originating apparently in war bulletins during the
first world war, and now widely used in newspaper reporting, often
without any intention of raising the stylistic level of the narrative: il
ladruncolo, vistosi scoperto, si allontanava precipitosamente 'the
petty thief, on seeing he was discovered, rushed away';
(v) a more and more limited use of the subjunctive, replaced in
subordinate ciauses by the indicative, in conformity with informal
spoken style, as in credo che pane 'I think he is leaving', spero che sta
bene 'I hope he is well'. This is avoided in formal literary Italian;
(vi) the use of a instead of in for 'at' with place names, originally
limited to central Italian, has been generalized: a Roma is now the
norm, rather than in Roma;
82 Italian Language Today
(vii) since the beginning of the century it has been quite common to
find elliptic expressions of different kinds like votate socialista 'vote
Socialist', frequently used in advertising: brindate Gancia 'toast
with Gancia', camminate Pirelli 'travel Pirelli', comprate Marzotto
'buy Marzotto'; and, on the model of parlare forte (with an adjec-
tival form for the adverb) 'to speak loudly', fissa morbido 'sets
softly', lava pulito 'washes clean', sorride giovane 'has a youthful
smile'; and, in affected speech, fa Capri'looks Capri', fa fino 'looks,
sounds refined', fa modern0 'looks modern', fa notizia 'makes
news'.
(h) In the field of lexis it would of course be quite easy, but not very
revealing, to provide long lists of words introduced, or used with a
new meaning, during the last hundred years: neologisms and
foreign words, often ephemeral, adopted either for their snob value,
or to talk about new things, usually attract most attention from pur-
ists who complain that they are unnecessary and defile the Italian
language. D e Mauro however worked out that in the mid-twentieth
century 94.8 per cent of Italian lexis was made up of traditional
words; the remaining 5.2 per cent consisted of non-adapted Latin-
isms and Graecisms (2.2 per cent) and of foreign words, adapted
(1.6 per cent) or non-adapted (1.4 per cent). As for the frequency of
use in actual texts of this 5.2 per cent of non-Italian words, it is
merely 0.48 per cent. If one considers only the most frequently used
words in twentieth-century Italian, it turns out that 90 per cent of
them go back to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and 7 per
cent to the Renaissance, leaving only 3 per cent for words adopted
subsequently. The vocabulary of Italian hardly seems to be under-
going revolutionary changes.
More interesting than neologisms as such are those groups of
words which seem to characterize certain periods or cultural fash-
ions. For instance:
(i) from the first world war we find the popularization of terms like
asso 'ace', bombarda 'mortar', il fronte 'front' (previously feminine),
lanciafiamme 'flamethrower', di punta 'spearhead', settore 'sector',
silurare 'to torpedo', cecchino '(Austrian) sharpshooter';
(ii) during the Fascist period considerable popularity was enjoyed
by words like dinamico 'dynamic', ferreo 'of iron', folgorante
'flashing', granitic0 'granite-like', inconfondibile 'unmistakable',
indefettibile 'unfailing', inequivocabile 'unequivocal', inesorabile
 Varieties of ltaliun 83
'inexorable', integrale 'integral', invimo 'unvanquished', oceanico
'oceanic', scultoreo 'sculpturesque', totalitario 'totalitarian', rravol-
gente 'overwhelming', as well as by Latinisms taken off the shelf like
duce for the Fascist leader;
(iii) from the second world war: asse 'axis', belligeranza 'belliger-
ence', guerra lampo 'blitzkrieg', picchiata 'nose-dive', repubblichini
'Fascists of the Republic of Salb';
(iv) from political terminology of the post-war period there is a rich
collection of terms referring to political parties, like azionista from
the Partito d'azione, or qualunquista from the Partito dell'uomo
qualunque - later used also to mean 'politically philistine'; and from
factions of the Christian Democrat party, dorotei (from the convent
of the Dorotee nuns in Rome, where a group of Christian Democrats
met in 1959), morotei (followers of A. Moro), moro-dorotei (from
the two preceding groups); gregoriani (who on the night of St Gre-
gory, 25 June 1963, criticized the programme of the four-party
coalition) was used for a Socialist group.
Among frequently used aliusive formulas we find compromesso
storico and repubblica conciliare, referring to a possible alliance bet-
ween Communists and Christian Democrats, and many expressions
like convergenze 'convergences', convergenze parallele 'parallel
convergences' (used by A. Moro; and on its model divergenzeparal-
lele 'parallel divergences', divergenze convergenti 'convergent
divergences'), costanti 'constants', direttrici 'directrices', a geomet-
rical term, used in the sense of policies, equilibripiu avanzati 'more
advanced balance of power' (i.e., a movement towards the left),
verifica 'test'. Over the last ten years we find a very frequent use of
terms like alienazione 'alienation', consumismo 'consumer society',
contestazione 'protest', demistificare 'demystify', dissacrante
'iconoclastic', emarginato 'social outcast', eversivo 'subversive',
mercificazione 'commercialization', mistificante 'obfuscating', re-
pressivo 'repressive';
(v) science and technology are the source of many expressions used
metaphorically in everyday language, like ad alta tensione 'highly
charged', capillare 'far reaching, widespread', a1 rallentatore 'in slow
motion', emorragia 'draining', in quarta 'at the double', in orbita 'in
orbit', sfasato 'confused', sintonizzato 'in tune with', sincronizzare
'to synchronize', su di gin 'bubbling over', tonificare 'to invigorate';
(vi) there are many terms which can be called popular, often
84 Italian Language Today
originating in the underworld, or in military or student slang, and
sometimes of dialectal origin; they are now supraregional. Some
also have straight, non-slang meanings, but we give here the slang
ones: abbuffarsi 'to gorge oneself', arnrnappete, arnrnazzelo
'blimey', balle 'nonsense' or 'lies', ballista 'someone who talks non-
sense' or 'tells lies', balordo recently used by newspapers for 'thug'
rather than 'crank' or 'fool', batosta 'blow', battersela 'to beat it',
bullo 'young tough', burino 'boor', cafone 'lout', cagnara 'uproar',
carnorra 'racket', cantare 'to squeal', colpo 'job', cosca 'group of
mafiosi', dentro 'in prison', dritto 'crafty', far fuori 'to polish off',
fasullo 'phoney', fesso 'idiot', fesseria 'idiotic action', fifa 'funk', fre-
gare 'to swindle', fuori 'out of prison', fusto 'handsome fellow', gagd
'dapper', grana 'trouble' or 'dough', grinta 'toughness', guappo
'young turkey-cock', irnbranato 'raw', inghippo 'hitch', intrallazzo
'swindle' or 'racket', lavativo'dead loss', rnalloppo'loot',mollare'to
let fly', ornertd 'the mafia's law of silence' (from umiltd), pacchia
'godsend', pappagallo 'a man who tries to pick up girls in the street',
pestaggio 'beating up', pignolo 'finicky', pivello 'green', racchio
'ugly', regolare i conti 'to get even', sbafare 'to scrounge', sberla
'whack', sboba 'dishwater', sbolognare 'to palm off', scassare 'to
smash', schiappa, schiappino 'a wash-out', scocciare 'to bore', scor-
fano 'ugly individual', scucire 'to cough up', sfasciare 'to smash',
sfottere 'to make fun of', sganassone 'whack', sganciare 'to fork out',
sgraffignare 'to nick', soffiata 'tip off', spaghetto 'jitters', stangata
'blow', strafottente 'arrogant', tagliare la corda 'to beat it'.
Notes
'We use the descriptions by CAMILLI, A., hnuncia e grafia dell'italiano,
terra edizione riveduta a cura di P. Fiorelli, Florence, 1965; PIORBLLI, P.,
Cbrso di prondnzia italiana, Padova, 1965; TAGLIAVINI, c., LO correttapro-
nuncia italiana, Bologna, 1965, both for Florentine and for many of the
non-Tuscan pronunciations which they quote as faulty. For Florentine see
SAVOIA,
L . , 'Condizioni fonetiche nel fiorentino comune e alcune proposte
per una teoria fonologica concreta', Studi di grammatica italiana, 4, 1974-
1975, pp. 209-330; for regional pronunciations see CANEPARI, L., Italian0
standard e pronunce regionali, Padua, 1980; for a presentation in English of
the traditional model see CHAPALLAZ, M . , The Pronunciation of Italian. A
Practical Introduction, London, 1979, Cambridge, 1986.
2We are using the terms 'double' and 'single' conventionally, without of
course implying that it is a question of two phonetic units vs. one. In our
transcription we shall represent double consonants by repeating the sym-
bols of the single consonants, except for [ts] [dz] [tJ] [d3] in which, in accor-
 Varieties of Italian 85
dance with accepted practice, only the first element of the symbol is
repeated: [tts] [ddz] [ttJ] [dd3]; this is purely a notational convention and
does not imply an interpretation of these sounds as clusters or single units.
3There is also a less common pronunciation with a single intervocalic [ts],
accepted by purists when it derives from Latin TI and is therefore
'etymologically justifiable', as in nazione 'nation', vizio 'vice', Venezia
'Venice', but not when it derives from PTI,CFI as in concezione 'conception',
lezione 'lesson' (see below for central and southern usage).
4 B ~int the case of gli it is also possible to have a single [a] (admitted by
purists as 'correct'), after the final vowel of a preceding word, unless of
course the rules of syntactic doubling operate: one can have [Ibro ai dlkono]
loro gli dicono 'they tell him', but one must have [tu aai dltJi] tu gli dici 'you
tell him' because tu causes syntactic doubling.
SCf.CLIVIO,G. L., 'The Pronunciation of Italian in Piedmont', in Actes du X
Congrks international des linguistes (1967), Bucharest, 1970, vol. IV, pp.
275-280.
6Writers sometimes play with these features; for instance: '"Che succi'ede
qui?" domanda allarmato un carabiniere d'un'altraparte d'Ztalia" "What's
going on here?" asks an alarmed carabiniere from another part of Italy'
(BRERA, G., I1 corpo della ragassa, Milan, 1969, p. 72); 'Lui pub sempre dire:
"Zo non c 'entro, io avevo i miei stupefaci-enti!" si accalorava un barbiere con
forte accent0 napoletano. "He can always say: "I am not involved, I had my
drugs," a barber insisted with a strong Neapolitan accent.' (CA-ITANEO, G., I1
gran lombardo, Milan, 1973, p. 89); ' "Interratemi," ripeteva, "interratemi,
cost stanotte dormo tranquillo in clelo!" E la nonna sua moglie all'udirlo
esclamava con voce acuta: "GfesP! GfesrS!"' '"Bury me," he repeated,
"bury me, so that tonight I may sleep peacefully in heaven!" And the
grandmother, his wife, on hearing him exclaimed with a shrill voice: "Jesus!
Jesus!"' (this is an exchange between two Neapolitan characters in
MORANTE, E., La storia, Turin, 1974, pp. 277-278).

'See the following parliamentary exchanges, in the novel by MORSELLI,

G.,
I1 comunista, Milan, 1976, pp. 9-10: 'Qui Boatta perse la pazienza. -
Impara l'italiano, fascista! In italiano non si dice: it8lea. - Si, da te
imparerd. Che dici itaglia con la 'g'. Buzzurro. Qualcuno ridacchib mentre
dal centro, Dini, un lucchese, brontolava: - Be', si sa da un pezzo che non
sapete pronunciare nemmeno Italia!'. 'At this point Boatta lost patience. -
'Learn Italian, you fascist! In Italian you don't say: itlflea. - Yes, you are
the person to learn from. You who say itaglia with a "g". You peasant.
Someone sniggered, while from the centre, Dini, a Lucchese, grumbled: -
'Well, we've always known that you couldn't even pronounce ltalia!.'
Qualifications like 'frequent', 'common', etc., or 'rare', 'unusual', etc., do
not here refer to statistical computation but to what is felt to be normal or
expected in a given context. On some trends in modern Italian see SABATINI,
86 Italian Language Today
F.,'Linee di tendenza dell'italiano contemporaneo e problemi di norma', in
La lingua italiana in Finlandia, Turku, 1980, pp. 73-91; CORTELAZZO, M.,
'Aspetti, problemi e tendenze dell'italiano contemporaneo', in Atti del
secondo convegno degli italianisti in Finlandia, Helsinki, 1983, pp. 71-85.

See R ~ ~ E GRG. , ,Zur Wortgeographie der italienischen Umgangssprache,

Cologne, 1956, (Kolner romanistische Arbeiten, Neue Folge, Heft 7).

lo We transcribe according to the system described

in Chapter V. 1; in Floren-
tine one finds [dittJl] for DC, [diddittl] for DDT, etc.
Part Two
The Grammar of Italian
 An Outline

1 Phonology
(a) On the basis of the points made in the previous chapters, foreign
students of Italian may find it practical to adopt the following
phonological system:

(i) No distinction is made between open and closed mid vowels.

Vowel sounds intermediate between cardinal [el and [E] and bet-
ween cardinal [o] and [3] are suggested as the best choice. We trans-
cribe them here as [el and [o]. The situation in Italy is, as we have
seen, so varied, both for the kind of mid vowels used and the indi-
vidual words in which they are used, as to make it pointless for a
foreign learner not living in Italy to adopt in its entirety the usage of
one or another local variety of Italian.
(ii) When unstressed ti/ and /u/are adjacent to a vowel they are
pronounced [j] and [w]. This happens, at normal conversational
speed, with many speakers who, at a slower rate of delivery, and in a
careful style, would distinguish [i] as in spiare [spihre] 'to spy',
spianti [spihnti] 'spying', from [j] as in spiantare [spjantire] 'to
uproot', spianti [spjhnti] 'you uproot', and [u] as in acuitd [akuiti]
'sharpness', arcuata [arkuhta] 'arched' from [w] as in equitd
[ekwuith] 'equity', Arquata [arkwhta] (a place-name).
(iii) For double consonants one can adopt a pronunciation which is
90 Italian Language Today
unambiguously represented by traditional spelling. All consonants
can be single or double, apart from [p], [A], and [J], for which an
invariably long or an invariably short pronunciation is acceptable.
There is no syntactic doubling, apart from the fossilized forms in
which doubling is represented in spelling. So we have cade [khde]
'he falls' vs. cadde [khdde] 'he fell', vizi [vitsi] 'vices' vs. vizzi [vittsi]
'withered', a picco [a pikko] 'vertically' vs. appicco [appikko] 'I
hang'.
(iv) The alveolar sibilant is voiceless ([s]) (A) initially before a
vowel, as in sale [sale] 'salt', ( B ) before voiceless consonants, as in
spala [sphla] 'he shovels', asta [hsta] 'auction', ( C )after consonants,
as in orso [brso] 'bear', ( D ) when it is double, as in passo [phsso]
'step'. It is voiced ([z]) in all other cases, i.e., (E) before voiced
consonants, as in sbattere [zbhttere] 'to slam', asma [hzma] 'asthma',
(F) intervocalically, as in casa [khza] 'house', naso [nhzo] 'nose'.
This last condition can be waived when the intervocalic sibilant is
morpheme initial, as in trasognato 'dreamy', presentire 'to have a
premonition', risanare 'to heal', etc., which are usually pronounced
with a voiceless [s].
(v) The alveolar affricate is voiced ([dz]) initially, as in zero [dzCro]
'zero', zio [dzlo] 'uncle'. Medially it may be voiced as in mezzo
[mbddzo] 'half', azzurro [addzbrro] 'blue', orzo [brdzo] 'barley',
bronzo [brbndzo] 'bronze', or voiceless as in pazzo [phttso] 'mad',
ozio [btsjo] 'idleness', anzi [hntsi] 'on the contrary', alza [hltsa] 'he
raises'.
These proposals incorporate the aspects of Florentine phonology
which have become national, and disregard those which have
remained parochial. If the reader prefers to adopt Florentine
phonology in its integrity, he can ignore the present section and
refer to chapter IV. 1 (a)(i), keeping in mind, though, that points
(A), (B), (D), (E), and (F) are usually not recommended even by
purists.
We are trying to provide foreign students with a phonological
system which has the following advantages over those proposed by
puristic grammars: firstly, it is more faithfully represented by
conventional spelling; secondly, it is nearer to an overall national
system as it ignores phonemic oppositions which are treated diffe-
rently in different varieties of Italian; thirdly, where a choice has to
be made between conflicting varieties, it leans towards a northern
standard,' which enjoys high prestige, is gaining ground in the
 Grammar: A n Outline 91
country as a whole, and sounds less parochial than other varieties.
This we believe t o be a fact concerning actual linguistic behaviour
and linguistic attitudes in Italy, notwithstanding the purely theoret-
ical homage still paid to Tuscan pronunciation.
Concerning the first point, which has its importance forforeignstudents,
one could go even further. In our model the only phonemic opposition not
represented in spelling is [ts] vs. [dz]. But there is a series of words, some
fairly common (such as aguzzino 'tormentor', bizze 'tantrums', brezza
'breeze', frizzante 'sparkling', frizzo 'witticism', ghin'bizzo 'whim', intiriz-
ziro 'numb', mozzo 'hub', parabrezza 'windscreen', pettegolezzo 'gossip',
razzo 'rocket', ribrezzo 'disgust', schizofrenico 'schizophrenic', sgabuzzino
'closet'), some less common (such as amazzoni 'Amazons', lapislazzuli
'lapislazuli', lezzo 'stench', olezzo 'fragrance', rezzo 'shade') which in
northern Italy generally have a voiceless affricate, and in Tuscan a voiced
one. In everyday words such as pranzo a pronunciation with voiceless [ts]is
becoming more and more widely used in the north. By extrapolating this
tendency it might not be unreasonable for the foreign learner to adopt as a
rule a voiceless pronunciation for the alveolar affricate in internal position.
If one is not prepared to accept a voiceless pronunciation (which in fact is
occasionally heard in northern Italy) in words such as mezzo 'half', or
manzo 'beef', one could always learn them as individual exceptions to the
rule.
This is not the place t o provide practical suggestions for the
pronunciation of Italian, but some hints for speakers of English
would include: (1) [p t k] are usually not aspirated, (2) [t dl are
dental and not alveolar, (3) [r] is a vibrant (usually apical, but for
some speakers uvular) and not a fricative; attention must be paid to
its careful articulation in a post-vocalic and pre-consonantal posi-
tion, (4) the alveolar sibilant is voiced before voiced consonants, as
in smetto 'I stop', sloggio 'I move out', whereas in English it is voice-
less, as in 'smoke, slot', (5) unlike English, Italian does not
diphthongize its long vowels (stressed in a free syllable), and does
not weaken its unstressed vowels t o [a], (6) double (long) conson-
ants must be clearly distinguished from single (short) ones. They are
pronounced with greater tension and energy, and are necessarily
preceded by a short vowel: making this vowel clearly short contri-
butes greatly to the following consonant being perceived as long.

(b) Stress
(i) The position of stress in Italian is important: a stress on the
wrong syllable may make the word unintelligible. The position of
92 Italian Language Today
the stress may be responsible for the difference between one word
and another, as can be seen from minimal pairs such as [fini] fini
'ends' vs. [fini] fint 'he finished', [hmbito] 'context' vs. [ambito]
'desired' ambito, [bhtJino] 'let them kiss' vs. [batJino] 'basin'
bacino, [khpita] 'it happens' vs. [kapita] 'understood' (feminine
singular) capita, [kbmpito] 'task' vs. [kompito] 'courteous' compito
vs. [kompitb] 'he spelled out' compitd, [frhstino] 'let them whip' vs.
[frustino] 'whip' frustino, [intimo] 'intimate' vs. [intimo] 'I order'
intimo vs. [intimb] 'he ordered' intimd, [phntino] 'let them point' vs.
[puntino] 'dot' puntino, [rhbino] 'let them steal' vs. [rubino] 'ruby'
rubino, [shbito] 'at once' vs. [subito] 'undergone' subito, [sthdjati]
'study yourself' vs. [studjhti] 'studied' studiati.
Italian is known as a free stress language, i.e., there is no way of pre-
dicting on which syllable of a word the stress will fall. One can however list
elements which require or reject stress; for instance, these are some of the
suffixes which require stress: -accio (fatraccio 'criminal deed'), -an0
(roman0 'Roman'), -ello (srudentello 'little student'), -esco (romanesco
'Romanesque', used for the dialect), -etto (libretto 'little book'), -in0 (gar-
tino 'kitten'), -one (cagnone 'large dog'), -oso (famoso 'famous'), -uccio
(caruccio 'pretty'), and these are some which reject stress themselves, and
require it on the preceding syllable: -bile (commestibile 'edible', potabile
'drinkable'), -fero (sonnifero 'sleeping pill'), -filo (cinofilo 'dog lover'),
-fob0 (idrofobo 'rabid'), -fono (megafono 'loudspeaker'), -grafo (telegrafo
'telegraph').
(ii) In a polysyllabic word the stressed syllable has greater prominence than
the unstressed ones; the latter can have different degrees of prominence.
Reliable experimental analyses are not a ~ a i l a b l ebut
, ~ standard textbooks
suggest that there is a rhythmic rule as follows:
A secondary degree of prominence is automatically introduced before
the main stress at intervals of one from the stressed syllable, and after the
main stress, on the last syllable unless it immediately follows the stressed
syllable. This may not be clearly perceivable in normal pronunciation, but
seems to correspond to the notion of 'stressability': the syllables in question
may acquire considerable prominence in an emphatic pronunciation.
A secondary degree of prominence whose presence and location is not
automatically determined by a rhythmic rule may be found in compound
words. The main stress of the compound is always on the last component
word. The main stress of the first component(s) becomes the secondary
stress of the compound. In radiosomaggismo (a term which refers to the
celebration of the radioso maggio 'glorious May' in which Italy entered the
first world war) the secondary stress is on the second syllable: [rad-
j?zomaddjlzmo]; the word would be unintelligible if it were pronounced
with a secondary stress on a different syllable, say [r?djozomadd3lzmo].
 Grammar: An Outline 93
Minimal pairs can be found or constructed for the presence vs. absence of a
secondary stress: [ p r ~ k d r a pro-cura
] as in: 'for the care' vs. [prokdra]
procura 'proxy'; and for the different positions of a secondary stress:
[qwtoreattbre] 'ram-jet engine' vs. [awtgreattbre] 'actor-author'; and, if
one accepts rather contrived examples, [affgJinawbmini] 'one who fasci-
nates men' vs. [affaJjnawbmini] 'one who collects men in bundles';
[gntikotestamentitrjo] 'against joint wills' vs. [antjkotestamentitrjo] 'of the
Old Testament'.
With adverbs in -mente the secondary degree of prominence may be
introduced automatically, according to the rhythmic rule mentioned above,
as in [fjnalmCnte] 'at last', or on the syllable which was originally stressed, as
in [qvidamknte] 'avidly'.
In Italian a word is said to be, according to stress position: tronca (oxytonic:
stressed on the last syllable): telefono 'he telephoned'; piana (paroxytonic:
stressed on the penultimate syllable): telefonare 'to telephone'; sdrucciola
(proparoxytonic: stressed on the antepenultimate syllable): telefonarmelo
'to tell it to me over the phone'; bisdrucciola (stressed on the last syllable
but three): telefonami 'ring me'; trisdrucciola (stressed on the last syllable
but four): telefonamelo 'tell it to me over the phone'; quadrisdrucciola
(stressed on the last syllable but five): telefonamicelo'tell it to me there over
the phone'. The limit to the number of post-tonic syllables would not seem
to be set by phonological rules.
An unstressed element is called 'clitic': it is proclitic if it goes with the
following stressed word (lo guardi 'you look at it') and enclitic if it goes with
the preceding one (guardalo 'look at it').

Many words are heard with alternative stresses: we shall list some, giving
first the accentuation recommended by purists, but specifying when the
second one is more common: adula 'he adulates' [adbla] vs. [Adula], alacre
'active' [illakre] vs. [alilkre], bolsceoico 'Bolshevik' [boUeviko] vs.
[bolJCviko], correo 'accomplice' [kbrreo] vs. [korrbo], cucub 'cuckoo'
[kukblo] vs. [khkulo], devia 'he deviates' [devla] vs. [dbvja], edile 'architec-
tural' [edlle] vs. [kdile], educo 'I educate' [edbko] vs. (more wmmon)
[Cduko], eutanasia 'euthanasia' [ewtanazla] vs. [ewtankja], elzeviro 'short
literary article' [eldzevlro] vs. [eldzkviro], euapora'it evaporates' [evapbra]
vs. (more common) [evilpora], infido 'unreliable' [infldoj vs. [Infido], kc-
cornia 'delicacy' [lekkornla] vs. [lekkbmja], lubrico 'lascivious' [Ibbriko] vs.
(more common) [lubriko], magiaro 'Magyar' [ m i d p r o ] vs. (more
common) [madghro], microbi 'microbes' [mikrbbi] vs. (more common)
[ m l k r ~ b i ]missile
,~ 'missile' [missile] vs. [missile], moNica 'crumb' [mollika]
vs. [mbllika], pedule 'rock climbing boots' [pedble] vs. [pkdule], rubnca
'index book' [mbrlka] vs. [rbbrika], salubre 'salubrious' [sallbre] vs. (more
wmmon) [dlubre], scandinaw 'Scandinavian' [skandinhvo] vs. (more
common) [skandinavo], utensile 'tool' [utensile] vs. (more common) [utCn-
94 Italian Language Today
sile], ualuto, soprauualuto 'I estimate, I overestimate' [valbto] [soprav-
valhto] vs. (more common) [vhluto] [soprawhluto], zaffiro 'sapphire'
[dzafflro] vs. [dzhffiro].
With many classical names there is a learned pronunciation (which pre-
serves the position of the stress in Latin, even in the case of Greek names)
and a more common, popular pronunciation; for example, giving the
learned pronunciation first, Aristide 'Aristides' [aristlde] vs. [adstide],
Euridice 'Eurydice' [ewrlditje] vs. [ewridltje] (stress as in Greek), Orfeo
'Orpheus' [brfeo] vs. [orfko] (stress as in Greek). In some cases words with
one element in common are stressed differently: piroscafo 'ship' [pirbskafo]
(which conforms to Latin accentuation) vs, motoscafo 'motorboat'
[motoskhfo] (which does not).

(c) Fall of final vowels

Traditionally a distinction is made between truncation (in front of
either a vowel o r a consonant) and elision (in front of a vowel only).
Truncation: the final vowel of a polysyllable may fall if the resulting
form ends in [I] [r] [n] [m]: sottil argomento 'subtle argument', sottil
ragionamento 'subtle reasoning', andar piano 'to go slowly', andar
auanti 'to go forward', son troppi 'they are too many', son andati
'they have gone', siam pochi 'we are few', siam arrivati 'we have
arrived'. Elision: in front of a vowel a final vowel may fall, whatever
consonant thus becomes final: dev'essere 'it must be', quest'opera
'this work', quand'era 'when he was', etc. The foreign learner does
not need t o use elision or truncation, apart from the cases, specified
in the grammar below, in which they are compulsory (l'amico 'the
friend', un amico 'a friend', etc.), and in fixed expressions like amor
proprio 'self esteem', d'altra parte 'on the other hand' (but l'ho
saputo d a ultra fonte ' I learnt it from another source'), ma1 fatto
'badly done', ben fatto 'well done', etc.

(d) Vowel length

Note that stressed vowels in a free syllable are long (except in word-
final position). Their length is transcribed with [:] after the vowel
symbol. With vowels followed by [j] or [w] we can consider the
vowel short and the syllable checked (even though the vowel in
words like pausa [pbwza] 'pause' is in fact longer than in palla
[palla] 'ball'); in word-final position note the difference between
the monosyllabic pronunciation of noi, mai and their bisyllabic
rendering in a stressed position: noi andiamo [ngj andjb:mo] 'we
 Grammar: A n Outline 95
are going', mai visto [mqj visto] 'never seen' vs. [andjq:mo n6:i],
[vjsto mA:i]. In continuous speech words may vary their individual
stress, depending on the rhythm of the sentence: this results in a
complex hierarchy of stresses which we shall not try to analyse here.

(e) Phonetic transcription

We offer below a few lines in phonetic transcription: (i) according
to Florentine pronunciation (see chapter IV. l(a)(i)), and (ii)
according to the phonological system described in the present
chapter; we shall transcribe some words as unstressed or semi-
stressed depending on the rhythm with which the sentence is
pronounced:
Questo t un esempio di trascrizione fonetica, che presentiamo in
due versioni, una secondo la pronuncia fiorentina, e I'altra secondo
la pronuncia che abbiamo illustrate nelle pagine che precedono.
'This is an example of phonetic transcription which we present in
two versions, one according to Florentine pronunciation, the other
according to the pronunciation which we described in the preceding
pages. '
(i) [kwksto un ezbmpjo di traskrittsjq:ne fonb:tika, ke pprezen-
tjA:mo in dv:e versjd:ni, b:na sekqndo la pronvntJa fjorenti:na, e 11
iiltra sekgndo la pronhntja ke abbjg:mo illustr8:to nelle pg:dgine
ke ppret jb:dono]
(ii) [kwksto e un ezkmpjo di traskritsjq:ne fonk:tika, ke prezen-
tjii:mo in dv:e versj6:ni, b:na sekqndo la pronvntja fjorenti:na, e 1
hltra s e k ~ n d ola pronhntja ke abbjq:mo illustrkto nelle p9:dgine
ke pretjk:dono]

2 Spelling
(a) We can now draw up two lists representing Italian spelling con-
ventions.

From sounds to letters From letters to sounds

[i] i a [a1
[el e b [bl
[a1 a c (+ a, 0, U, consonant) [k]
96 Italian Language Today
From sounds to letters From letters to sounds
[ol 0 c (+i, e)
[ ~ lu ch
[PI P ci (+ vowel)
[bl b d
[tl t e
[dl d f
[k] c ( + a , o, u, consonant) g (+ a, o, u, consonant)
ch (+i, e) g (+ i, e)
[g] g ( + a , o, u, consonant) ah
gh (+ i, e) gi ( f vowel)
[fl f gl (+i)
[vl v gli (+ vowel)
[sl S 8"
[zl S gni ( + vowel)
[SI sc (+ i, e) h
sci (+ vowel) i
[t~l 1
[&I m
[tll c (+I, e) n
ci (+ vowel) 0
[d31 g ( + i , e ) P
gi (+ vowel) 4
[ml m r
[nl n S

[PI an
gni (+ vowel) sc (+i, e)
[I1 1 sci (+ vowel)
[A1 gl (+i) t
gli (+ vowel) U

[rl r 1)

The names of the letters of the alphabet in Italian are: a [a], b[bi], c[tJi],
d [di], e [el, f [tffe], g [dsi], h [akka], i [i], j [i Ihggo], k [kappa], 1 [Clle], m
[tmme], n [tnne], o [o], p [pi], q [ku], r [trre], ~ [ t s s e ]t,[ti], u [u], v [vi], w [vi
dbppjo], x [iks], y [lpsilon] or [i grCko], z [dzkta]. These names can be consi-
dered masculine or feminine, so one also has [i] lunga, [vi] doppia, [i] greca.
There are other, more local ways of naming them with a supporting [el in
[be], [tJe], etc., or with [u] in [vu]. Conventional 'spelling' over the phone,
to indicate how to write a word, is normally done by giving place names or
other words which begin with the letter in question. For instance, Livorno,
Empoli, Pisa, Sauona, Como, Hotel, i greco spells Lepschy.
The letter his only used (i) to indicate the velar pronunciation of cand g,
 Grammar: An Outline 97
(ii) as an etymological spelling, with no phonetic counterpart, in the forms
ho, hai, ha, hanno 'I have, you have, he has, they have', of the verb awre 'to
have', thusdistinguishing them in spelling from o'or', ai'to the', a'to', anno
'year', (iii) in exclamations, either without phonetic value, as in ahi, eh, or
representing a velar fricative as in bah, poh (in one of their possible
pronunciations). In Italian the conventional representation of laughter,
equivalent to the English 'ha ha', is ah! ah! pronounced [ha ha].
In the first two lists we have not given k, w, x, y, which are usually pro-
nounced [k], [v], [ks] or [gz], [i]. We have also ignored assimilation: for
instance n in in piedi 'standing' may represent [m].
As appears from the lists, c and gin front of a, o, u represent the velars [k]
and [g], and in front of i, e, they represent the palatals [tJ] and [d3]. To
represent the velars in front of i, e, one adds h after c and g, and to represent
the palatals in front of a, o, u, one adds iafter cand g. Similarly screpresents
[sk] insca, sco, scu, schi, sche, and [j] in sci, sce, scia, scio, ~ c i u ; ~ing front
l of
i represents [A], as in gli, or [gl] as in glicerina 'glycerine', glicine 'wistaria';
in front of other vowels gl represents [gl]; gli in front of a vowel represents
[A], as in moglie 'wife', cogliere 'to pick'; gn represents [p] as in gnocco 'a
kind of noodle', gnomo 'gnome', but words such as gnoseologia
'gnoseology' are sometimes pronounced with [gn] (and of course wag-
neriano is [vagnerjbno]); gni represents [p] in the subjunctives like sogniate
'may you dream' (cf. the homophonous indicative sognate 'you dream').
The letter i may be used before e, where the pronunciation of c, g and sc
would in any case be palatal; according to spelling tradition we have cielo
'sky', but celeste 'blue'; cieco'blind', but cecitcl 'blindness'; sufficiente'suffi-
cient', deficiente 'deficient', efficiente 'efficient', but beneficenza 'charity';
societcl 'society', specie 'species', superficie 'surface', but innocente 'inno-
cent', facendo 'doing', pasticceria 'patisserie'; and igiene 'hygiene', effigie
'effigy', but leggero 'light' (sometimes also leggiero); scienza 'science',
scientific0 'scientific', scienziato 'scientist', coscienza 'conscience', cosciente
'wn~cious', but convalescenza 'convalescence', convalescente 'convales-
cent'.5
There are other cases in which one has to know the accepted tradition, as
the spelling cannot be deduced from the pronunciation: tor instance with q
vs, c: quando 'when', quota 'quota', but cuore 'heart', cuoco'cook'; squadra
'team', but scuola 'school'; acquisto 'acquisition', soqquadro 'confusion',
taccuino 'notebook'.
In some cases either a single or a double consonant may be found:
bagatella and bagattella 'trifle', caffelatte and caffellatte 'white coffee',
contradittono and contraddittorio (also contradditorio) 'contradictory',
cosidetto and cosiddetto 'so-called', retorico and rettorico 'rhetorical', scopola
and scoppola 'a smack on the head', sopraluogo and sopralluogo'on the spot
investigation', sopratuttoand soprattutto 'above all', sovraprezzoand sovrap-
prezzo 'surcharge'.
98 Italian Language Today
Of the two forms familiare, with [Ij] and famigliare with [k], the former
used to be recommended as correct, the second is now acceptable; some
people distinguish familiare 'familiar' from famigliare 'of the family'.

(b) The apostrophe

One is traditionally taught that the apostrophe is used in cases of
elision but not of truncation (see above), i.e., when the shortened
form could not exist in front of a consonant: un artista 'an artist'
(male), as un cane 'a dog', but un'artista 'an artist' (female), because
one cannot have un cagna for irna cagna 'a bitch'; so also
pouer'uomo 'poor man', but tal amico'such a friend', fin allora 'until
then', qua1 2 'which is', etc. The apostrophe is commonly used also
in un po"a bit', a mo' di 'by way of', and may be used in the impera-
tives da"give', di' 'say', fa' 'do', sta' 'stay', va' 'go'. Note that in
these last cases there is a space between the apostrophe and the
following word, whereas in the ones mentioned above the elided
word and the following one are not separated: l'amico 'the friend',
un'onda 'a wave'.

(c) Accent marks are generally used (i) in all polysyllables stressed
on the last syllable: perd 'however', perch2 'because', cosi 'so', andd
'he went', fini 'he ended',
but not if the last syllable ends in a falling diphthong: andai 'I went', eroi
'heroes' (in metre these words may count as trisyllabic, in which case the
last syllable is unstressed);
(ii) in some monosyllables like pud 'he can', piu 'more', cid 'that', giu
'down', gib 'already' which, without an accent mark could be read as
paroxytonic bisyllables (gia [dgia] 'he went' is the imperfect of the
literary gire 'to go'); (iii) in some monosyllables where the spelling
without an accent mark represents another word: si 'yes' vs. si 'one-
self', s2 'oneself' vs. se 'if', 2 'he is' vs. e 'and', db 'he gives' vs. da
'from', di 'day' vs. di 'of', Id and li 'there' vs. la and li article and
pronoun.
Note that qui and qua are written without accent marks: there are no
homophones with which they could be confused, and the q indicates that the
following u cannot be stressed ([kbi] 'to whom' is spelled cui). One can thus
distinguish dd 'he gives', da' 'give' imperative, da 'from'. It used to be quite
common to distinguish sL adverb 'up' from su preposition 'on', as in vado sic
'I am going up', but su di me 'on me'; dd 'I give' from do the musical note,
 Grammar: A n Outline 99
ddnno 'they give' from danno 'damage', and s l from se stesso, se medesimo
'himself' (because in the latter expressions se cannot mean 'if'). Nowadays
it is more common to write su, do, danno always without an accent mark,
and sk always with an accent mark when it is a pronoun (se 'if' always
without). It is also old-fashioned to use the circumflex to indicate a so-
called contraction, as in cdrre literary for cogliere 'to pick' vs. cove 'he runs',
cerchi 'circles' vs. cerchi 'you search' (the usual form is cerchi for both) (cf.
chapter V. 6(a)).
A convention which has become more and more widely accepted by pub-
lishers (also by newspapers, but not in personal manuscripts and type-
scripts, where a grave throughout is preferred) makes use of the grave for
[E]and [a] and of the acute for [el (with reference to Florentine pronuncia-
tion): k 'he is', cioe 'that is', caffc? 'coffee', (with [el), percht 'because', n t
'neither', sk 'oneself' (with [el); stressed final -0 always represents [a],
hence it is written with a grave: cib 'that',pub'he can',portb6hecarried'. As
there is no distinction to be made between open and closed [a], [i], [u] the
grave is usually employed on the letters representing these vowels (but
some people use the grave on a because it represents an open vowel, and
the acute on i and u because they represent closed vowels: Id but li, piu).
The use of grave and acute accents to distinguish between Florentine [E]
[a] and [el [o] is sometimes extended to non-final syllables to distinguish
words which would otherwise have the same spelling: scdrsi 'I glimpsed' vs.
scdrsi 'past', corresse 'he corrected' vs, corrtsse '(if) he ran'.
Occasionally accent marks are used to distinguish between homographs
representing words with the stress on different syllables: principi 'princes'
vs. principi (or principi) 'principles', drbitri 'referees' vs. arbitri (or arbitrt)
'arbitrary acts' (cf. chaper V. 6(a)).
Many proposals have been made, along the lines of the three paragraphs
above, to introduce a consistent system of accent marks in Italian indicating
unambiguously (i) where the stress falls, (ii) when the stressed vowel is eor
o, whether it is open (with a grave) or closed (with an acute). The simplest
and most explicit system would be to put an accent mark on the stressed
vowel of every word. As most Italian words are paroxytonic, a more
economic system would be not to put an accent mark on these, unless the
stressed vowel is e or o (in which case one needs the accent mark to indicate
whether they are closed or open). So one would write for instance: tdvolo
'table', decade 'decade', dkmoni 'demons' (plural of dlmone), mbndano
'they clean', decade 'it declines', dembni 'demons' (plural of dembnio), parte
'part', pdrta 'door'.
Some authors see these systems as purely didactic artifices to be used in
texts for teaching, others present them as projects of spelling reforms (with
the ultimate aim of reforming pronunciation as well, making it conform to
the Florentine standard more systematically). These proposals, however,
particularly if they are presented as spelling reforms, seem not only
100 Italian Language Today
unwieldy and impractical, but also basically ill-conceived. The elimination
of a few ambiguities is pointless, because there are countless more (this is
how language works), and unnecessary, because the context almost always
disambiguates the word. As for the distinction between open and closed e
and o, given the Italian situation, it is better to leave the choice to the
reader. As a consequence of the linguistic history of Italy, people can now
write piede and quattordici which are national forms; if one is made to indi-
cate that piede must be with an [E]and quattdrdici with an [o], one is at the
same time being made to use a form which ischaracterized as regional. The
introduction of these accent marks would probably not make Italian speech
more national, but Italian spelling less so. The adoption of these projects
would not bring Italian spelling any nearer to a phonological representa-
tion, but rather take it further away: Italians who pronounce & [E]and perch&
[perkb], would learn a spelling vagary ([E]spelled with a grave accent in t?
and with an acute accent in perchi) rather than change their speech.
For the foreign learner the best solution is to put a grave accent on
vowels which traditionally require an accent mark (which is, as
noted above, what most Italians do).

(d) Punctuation
A contrastive discussion of the use of comma, colon, semicolon and
full stop in English and Italian would be out of place here, but it is
worth noting that (i) Italian does not normally use a question mark
in indirect questions: the English 'I wonder if . . .?' corresponds to
'mi chiedo se . . .'; (ii) a dash sometimes used without a preceding
and following space as a breaking mark in English is easily inter-
preted by Italians as a hyphen joining the two elements it separates,
because of the lack of spaces. Compared with English the dash is
less often used in Italian, where it mostly introduces exchanges in a
dialogue, as an alternative to inverted commas, or delimits a paren-
thetic expression, instead of brackets. An English student writing in
Italian tends to use it inappropriately for colon, semicolon or full
stop.

(e) The division of words at the end of the line conforms in Italian to
syllabic boundaries (as codified by orthographic conventions).
Vowels may be separated from each other if they d o not form a
diphthong: a-cu-i-to 'sharpened', ma-ia-le 'pig', si-a 'let it be', mai
'never', piu 'more'; single consonants go with the following syllable:
ma-ri-to 'husband', ta-uo-li-no 'little table'; also mo-glie 'wife', e-sce
'he goes out', o-gnu-no 'each one'; double consonants and con-
 Grammar: An Outline 101
sonant clusters are divided between the syllables, but if there is a
group of stop + I, r it goes with the following syllable; if the con-
sonant cluster begins with s, the s goes with the following syllable:
fat-to 'done', ac-qua 'water', cor-sa 'run', al-to 'high', a-pren-do
'opening', up-pren-do 'I learn', o-ste 'publican', ma-e-stro 'teacher'.
As can be seen from these examples, a practical rule could be: put
as many consonants as possible with the following syllable, as long
as you get a cluster which can occur at the beginning of a word. The
rule leads to different treatment of comparable clusters: cap-zio-so
'captious', ab-nor-me 'abnormal', but di-spe-pti-co'dyspeptic' (with
-pti- as in pterodattilo 'pterodactyl'), di-spe-psi-a 'dyspepsia' (with
-psi- as in psicologia 'psychology'), ri-tmo 'rhythm' (with -tmo as in
tmesi 'tmesis'). There are also exceptions: a-vrd 'I shall have', do-
vrei 'I should' although no Italian word begins with ur-.
It is considered undesirable to end the line with an apostrophe
(with or without a hyphen): 1'-amico 'the friend', un'-amica 'a
friend' are avoided, and l'a-mico, un'a-mica or u-n'amica are pre-
ferred. Also to be avoided is the habit which many printers have in
these cages of using the full form of the article at the end of the line:
lo / anno 'the year', una / ora 'an hour'.

(f) Capitals
In modern Italian there is a strong tendency not to use capitals,
except where their use is compulsory as in proper names. In many
cases in which a capital is found in English, it is not used in Italian,
e.g., in the names of the months and of the days of the week. With
names deriving from states, nations, towns, etc., capitals are often
used for the substantives (gli Italiani 'the Italians'), but not for the
adjectives (il pop010 italiano 'the Italian people'), nor to refer to the
language (studiare l'italiano 'to study Italian'), or individuals
(c'erano due italiani 'there were two Italians').

(g) Note that in quoting titles of books and newspapers one need not
retain a capital or italics for an initial article belonging to the title.
Manzoni's novel is I promessi sposi; a critic may write: leggendo 'I
promessi sposi' (or 'I Promessi Sposi', or i 'Promessi Sposi') per
l'intreccio 'reading the Promessi Sposi for the plot', but, with a
preposition, preferably: l'oratoria dei 'Promessi Sposi"the oratory
of the Promessi Sposi'. If the article is retained as part of the title a
preposition in front of it may have the form it takes when fused with
102 Italian Language Today
the article: i racconti de (or di) 'I1Mondo' 'the stories of I1 Mondo ', lo
stile di Moravia ne (or in) ' L a Noia' (or ' L a noia') 'Moravia's style in
La Noia'. (But when speaking one will generally use del Mondo for
de 'I1 Mondo ', nella Noia for ne 'La Noia ').

3 The article
(a) The different forms of the article are set out in the following
table:
Masculine Feminine
Indefinite (singular) un uno una un'
Definite (singular) il lo I' la 1'
Definite (plural) i gli gl' le I'

The form of the article depends on the initial sound of the following
word (which need not be the noun that goes with the article).
(b) Masculine uno, lo, gli are used before s+consonant, z, ps, and
normally before pn, gn, x, and unstressed i+vowel; otherwise un, il,
i (but l', gli are used before a vowel and gl' may be used before i).
Examples: un ragazzo 'a boy', uno strano ragazzo 'a strange boy',
il ragazzo 'the boy', lo strano ragazzo 'the strange boy', i ragazzi
'the boys', gli strani ragazzi 'the strange boys'; uno studio 'a study',
un piccolo studio 'a small study', lo studio, il piccolo studio, gli studi, i
piccoli studi; un inglese 'an Englishman', l'inglese, gli inglesi or
gl'inglesi; uno pseudonimo 'a pseudonym', lo pseudonimo, gli
pseudonimi; uno or un pneumatic0 'a tyre', lo or ilpneumatico, gli or
i pneumatici; uno or un gnocco 'a kind of noodle, or a bump', lo or il
gnocco, gli or i gnocchi; uno or un xilofono 'a xylophone', lo or il
xilofono, gli or i xilofoni; uno or un iugoslavo 'a Jugoslav', lo or
l'iugoslavo, gli iugoslavi. Words beginning with i+vowel may take 1'
(as l'ieri 'the yesterday') as well as lo (as lo iato 'the hiatus'); the
plural in both cases is gli (gli ieri, gli iati).
Articles with foreign words beginning with (i) [w]: un whisky, il o r
/'whisky, i o r gli whisky; un weekend, il o r ['weekend, i o r gli weekend; (ii)
[j]: un o r uno yacht, lo o r l'yacht, gli yacht; (iii) [h]: uno Hennessy, lo Hegel.
gli Humboldt. T h e [h] is here treated like a n Italian spirant such as ($1; one
also finds a more affected il Hegel with a n [h], and a more popular I'Hegel
without an [h]; when there is no [h] the normal prevocalic form of the article
is used: un hotel. l'hotel, gli hotel. It has been suggested that with French
 Grammar: An Outlir~cl 103
name4 onc should adopt French usage, i.e.. I'Havet hut lo Hugo.
Note some exceptions which mostly preserve old Italian forms: per lopili
'for the most part', per lo meno 'at least', gli dei 'the gods', un zinzin 'a pinch'
(of something), passata la festa gabbato lo santo 'once on shore we pray no
more'. In an old-fashioned or bureaucratic style one may find the date
written like this: li 18 agosto 1974, where li is an old form of the plural
article. As this form is unknown in modern Italian it is sometimes found
with an accent as if it were the locative pronoun li, and also used with the
first of the month instead of il.
(c) Feminine in the singular una, la are used before a consonant
and also before [w] and [j], un', I' are used before a vowel; in the
plural le is used; it is preferred to l'even in front of e-: le erbe 'the
herbs'.
Examples: una ragazza 'a girl', la ragazza, le ragazze; una iugo-
slaua 'a Jugoslav woman', la iugoslava, le iugoslave; un'idea 'an
idea', una vecchia idea 'an old idea', l'idea, la vecchia idea, le idee, le
vecchie idee. In front of surnames of women even beginning with a
vowel, la is always used: la Ingrao, la Antinucci; l'would refer to a
man; but cf., with Christian names, where no confusion is possible,
l'lda, l'Anna.
In modern Italian there is a tendency (see chapter IV. 2(b)(ii)) to
use the full form of the article in front of a vowel: la arnica 'the
friend', una unica volta 'once only'.
F o r the use of the article see chapter VI. 2.

4 Prepositions with the article

(a) Many prepositions combine with the definite article to form a
single word. They all belong to the traditional list of prepositions
proper; this list consists of the following weak forms used as
prepositions only (apart from su which can also be used adverbially
and is thus comparable to contro 'against', dentrobinside',fuori'out-
side', sopra 'over', sotto 'under', etc.). Some of the most common
meanings are provided:
a 'to, at, in': vado a scuola 'I go to school', sono a casa 'I am at
home', vivono a Venezia 'they live in Venice'.
con 'with': vieni con me 'come with me'.
da 'from, by, to, at, with': vengo da Roma 'I come from Rome', t
scritta da Ugo 'it is written by Ugo', vado dal macellaio 'I'm going to
the butcher's', sta da noi 'he's staying with us' (cf. French chez for
the last two examples).
104 Italian Language Today
di 'of, by, from': questo 2 fatto di legno 'this is made of wood', questo
libro 2 di Ugo 'this book is Ugo's', una poesia di Dante 'a poem by
Dante', 2 di Milano 'he comes from Milan', i.e., he is a native of
Milan.
fra, tra 'between, among, in (of future time)': leggere fra le righe 'to
read between the lines', fra amici 'among friends'; fra and tra have
the same meaning, but one or the other may be preferred to avoid
alliteration: tra fratelli 'between brothers' rather than fra fratelli; fra
tre giorni 'in three days' time' rather than tra tre giorni.
in 'in, to, into': siamo in campagna 'we are in the country', andiamo
in Italia 'we are going to Italy', l'ho buttato in acqua 'I threw him into
the water'.
per 'for, through': questo t per te 'this is for you', camminando per le
strade di Milano 'walking through the streets of Milan'.
su 'on': mettilo su una sedia 'put it on a chair'.

(b) In modern Italian when there is an article the combined form is

compulsory with these prepositions, except with fra and tra which
never combine, per for which the combined forms @el, pei, etc.) are
practically obsolete, and con for which they are optional:
il lo I' i gli la le
a a1 a110 all' ai agli alla alle
con col collo coll' coi cogli colla colle
da dal dallo dall' dai dagli dalla dalle
di del dello dell' dei degli della delle
in nel nello nell' nei negli nella nelle
su sul sullo sull' sui sugli sulla sulle
Examples: all'ultimo momentt? 'at the last moment', negli esami
'in the exams', sulla tavola 'on the table', colpretesto 'with the pre-
text'.

( c ) di + definite article is used in the so-called 'partitive' construc-

tion: ho comprato dei fiori 'I have bought some flowers', vuoi del
pane? 'do you want any bread?'; but in negative sentencesnon ho
matite 'I have no pencils' (for the particular meaning of di + article
in negative sentences see chapter VI. 2(b) (ii)). Note that the parti-
tive cannot be preceded by di; whereas one can contrast vedo quadri
'I see pictures' and vedo dei quadri 'I see some pictures', one cannot
 Grammar: A n Outline 105
contra\t p i t r l o t l i t/rittclri I :trn talking o f picture\' and ~ ~ t r r tlr
lo t th~i

quadri 'I am talking of some pictures'. Instead of di+partitive, un

po' di, alcuni, ceni, etc., would be used.

5 Conjunctions
(a) Conjunctions is the term generally used for certain words which
introduce a verbal expression in the way in which prepositions
introduce a noun phrase or an infinitive: lo fa per desiderio di
guadagno 'he does it out of desire for gain' (per is a preposition); lo
fa percht desidera guadagnare 'he does it because he desires to gain'
(percht is a conjunction).

(b) Coordinating conjunctions like e and o can link expressions

which are verbal (mangia e beve 'he eats and drinks') or nominal
(Ugo e Anna 'Ugo and Anna'); they generally relate to the
predicate, if one interprets ho visto Ugo e Anna 'I saw Ugo and
Anna' as ho visto Ugo e ho visto Anna ' I saw Ugo and I saw Anna';
but one must of course treat differently sentences like Ugo e Anna si
sono guardati 'Ugo and Anna looked at each other', or Ugo e Anna
pesano 120 chili 'Ugo and Anna weigh 120 kilos' (when this is their
joint weight, not that of each of them). Other common coordinating
conjunctions are oppure 'or else', n t 'nor', ma 'but', dunque
'therefore', etc.
Subordinating conjunctions introduce a subordinate clause;
among the most common are che 'that', perch2 'because', poicht
'since', siccht 'so that', cosiccht 'in order that', purcht 'as long as',
bench2 'although', fincht 'until', se 'if' etc. It should be noted that
the same word can be used as an adverb (quando t arrivato? 'when
did he arrive?') or as a conjunction (quando t arrivato era stanco
'when he arrived he was tired').
There is little point in trying to give a complete list of conjunc-
tions, as it seems to be open ended, with many phrasal expressions
like dato che 'given that', di mod0 che 'so that', dal momento che
'considering thatY,ogni volta che 'every time that', in maniera tale
che 'in such a way that' e t ~ .not
, ~ to speak of archaic ones like the
famous conciossiacosacht (meaning either 'since' or 'although')
which opens Della Casa's Galateo and which made Alfieri so angry
that he flung the book out of the window.
106 Italian Language Today
It is not very helpful either to try and list the functions of the
conjunctions: final, consecutive, temporal etc. Note that these
functions can vary even in the case of single conjunctions, and at
times depending on the verbal mood with which they are used: for
example, a final perch2 goes with the subjunctive (glielo ha dato
perch2 stesse buono 'he gave it to him so that he should behave
himself') and a causal perch2 goes with the indicative (glielo ha dato
perch2 stava buono 'he gave it to him because he was behaving
himself') or with a subjunctive which is required for other reasons:
a sentence like non Ppercht fosse buona che le facevano dei regali is
ambiguous with respect to the final or causal value of perch2: 'it
wasn't so that she should behave herself that they gave her presents'
or 'it wasn't because she behaved herself that they gave her
presents'. Some conjunctions are normally used with the indicative
(like poich2 'since', siccome 'as'), others with the subjunctive (like
affinche 'so that', quantunque 'although').

(c) To give an idea of the complexity of these usages the conjunc-

tion finch2 will be taken as an example (notice also the forms fin
che, fino a che; in writing, when it appears as one word, the accent
is marked on the second syllable, in speech it can be on the first
syllable). One can identify four different usages of finch2 which all
relate t o a single notion: the subordinate 'limits' the main clause; (i)
prospective ('until the moment in which'): aspetta qui finch2 ti
chiamano 'wait here until they call you'; (ii) concomitant ('while,
during the period in which'): finch2 c't vita c'2 speranza 'while
there's life there's hope'; (iii) consecutive ('so that'): Ugo non la
finiva pin; finch2 Anna si t seccata e lo ha interrotto 'Ugo went on
and on, until Anna got fed up and interrupted him'; (iv) indefinite
('as much as'): prendine finch2 vuoi 'take as much as you like'.
We will concentrate on the first two usages. Normally the main
clause has a continuous (durative) predicate, while the subordinate
clause has a momentary (punctual) predicate in (i), and a continu-
ous one in (ii).
(i) (A) With prospective finch2 one can have the subjunctive or,
more informally, the indicative: Ugo aspetta finch2 lo chiaminol
chiamano 'Ugo is waiting until they call him'; aspettera finch2 lo
chiamino (or abbiano chiamato)lchiamano (or hanno chiamato, or
chiameranno, or avranno chiamato) 'Ugo will wait for them to call
him'; aspettava finch2 lo chiamasserolchiamavano 'he was waiting
 Grammar: An Outline 107
until they called him'. Note that for an individual action in the past
the subjunctive would sound strange: ha aspettato finch2 lo hanno
chiamato (not abbiano chiamato) 'he waited until they called him';
aspettd finch2 lo chiamarono (not chiamassero) 'he waited until they
called him'.
(B) In these sentences finch2 may be followed by a non which is
called 'pleonastic' and does not negate the predicate in the
subordinate clause: Ugo aspetta finch2 non lo chiamano 'Ugo is
waiting until they call him'. When the main clause is negative one
must always use the pleonastic non after finch2 in the subordinate
clause: Ugo non si muove finch2 non lo chiamano 'Ugo is not
moving until they call him'.
(ii) (A) With concomitant finch2 we find the indicative (or the
subjunctive to convey possibility irrespective of fincht: finch2 il
cuore batta, non perderemo la speranza 'as long as the heart is
beating, we shall not lose hope'). If a non is used here after finch2 it
is not pleonastic, but it preserves its ordinary negative value: mi
fermo finch2 piove may be interpreted as 'I am stopping here (under
the shelter) while it rains', and mi fermo finch2 non piove as 'I am
stopping here (in the open air) while it is not raining'. With
concomitant finch2 a negative main clause does not require a
pleonastic non in the subordinate one: non muovertifincht stai male
'don't go while you are ill', and non muoverti finch2 non stai bene
'don't go while you are unwell'.
(B) The last sentence is in fact ambiguous: it can be interpreted as
having a prospective finch2 and a pleonastic non: 'don't go until you
are well'. In this case the two interpretations, although grammati-
cally different, are pragmatically equivalent: their import is 'while
you are ill, stay put, wait until you are better before you go'. But
there are cases in which the two interpretations can be pragmati-
cally different: Ugo sta tranquillo finch2 la vede may mean, with a
prospective finch&, that 'he keeps quiet when he does not see her,
until the moment when she appears, and then he starts agitating', or
else, with a concomitant finch&, that 'he keeps quiet while he can
see her, and starts agitating as soon as he doesn't see her any more'.
108 Italian Language Today

6 Nouns and adjectives

(a) Noun endings in Italian may be grouped into three main
categories. These three categories also apply to adjectives.
(9 (ii) (iii)
Singular -0 -a -e
Plural -i -e -I
masculine feminine masculine and feminine
Exceptions: la mano, le mani 'hand, -s', l'eco (feminine or
masculine), gli echi 'echo, -es', il dio, gli dei 'god, -s' (with an
irregular use of the article, cf, chapter IV. l(a)(i)(C)), l'uomo, gli
uomini 'man, men', il bue, i buoi 'ox, -en', il carcere, le carceri
'prison, -s'.
Adjectives always agree in number and gender with the noun
they qualify: il padre severo, i padri severi 'the strict father, -s', la
madre indaffarata, le madri indaffarate 'the busy mother, -s', il
ragazzo grande, i ragazzi grandi 'the big boy, -s', la ragazza forte, le
ragazze forti 'the strong girl, -s7.See also chapter VI. 6.

Plurals of nouns and adjectives in -co and -go

Words of so-called popular tradition (mostly paroxytones) tend to
preserve the velar: ago, aghi 'needle, -s', fuoco, fuochi 'fire, -s',
impiego, impieghi 'employment, -s', sacco, sacchi 'sack, -s'; lungo,
lunghi 'long', poco, pochi 'little, few'. But: amico, amici 'friend, -s',
nemico, nemici 'enemy, -ies', greco, greci 'Greek, -s', porco, porci
'pig, -s'. Words belonging to the so-called learned tradition (mostly
proparoxytones) tend to change the velar to a palatal: asparago,
asparagi 'asparagus', biologo, biologi 'biologist, -s', filologo, filologi
'philologist, -s', teologo, teologi 'theologian, -s'; pacifico, pacifici
'peaceful'. But: catalogo, cataloghi 'catalogue, -s', dialogo, dialoghi
'dialogue, -s'; analogo, analoghi 'analogous', carico, carichi
'loaded'.

Feminine nouns and adjectives in -ca and -ga

These always have their plural in -che and -ghe: arnica, amiche
'friend, -s', droga, droghe 'drug, -s'; larga, larghe 'large', poca,
poche; 'little, few').
Note il, la belga, i belgi, le belghe 'Belgian, -s'.
 Grammur: An Outline 109
Plurals of nouns and adjectives in -io
When the i is stressed the plural is in -ii: pendio, pendii 'slope, -s',
zio, zii 'uncle, -s'; pio, pii 'pious'; when the i is unstressed the plural
is usually in -i: studio, studi 'study, -ies'; vario, vari 'varied',
although -ii, -i (or, obsolete, -11may also be found, particularly to
avoid ambiguity (in spelling, as the pronunciation is normally with a
final single [i]): principio, principi, principii, principi (or principl)
'principle, -s' vs. principe, principi 'prince, -s' (cf. chapter V. 2(c)).
Feminine nouns and adjectives in -cia and -gia
When the i is stressed it is retained in the plural: farmacia, farmacie
'chemist's shop, -s7;when the i is unstressed (and so is only there to
indicate that the preceding consonant is a palatal) the following
spelling convention is the most widely used: the plural is without an i
if -cia and -gia are preceded by a consonant: provincia, province
'province, -s', spiaggia, spiagge 'beach, -es'; lercia, lerce 'filthy',
greggia, gregge 'raw', and with an i if they are preceded by a vowel:
camicia, camicie 'shirt, -s', valigia, valigie 'suitcase, -s'; fradicia,
fradicie 'soaking wet', grigia, grigie 'grey'.
The adjectives bello 'beautiful' and quello 'that' have endings like
those of the definite article when they precede the noun: un be1 libro
'a fine book', begli esempi 'good examples', quel libro 'that book',
quei libri 'those books', but queIl'oggetto t bello 'that object is beau:
tiful', quegli oggetti sono belli.
Buono 'good', grande 'big', Santo 'Saint' in the singular have end-
ings similar to those of the indefinite article if they precede the
noun; buon, gran, Sun in the masculine before a consonant: un buon
pasto 'a good meal', un gran libro 'a great book', Sun Pietro 'Saint
Peter'. Buon (feminine buon'), grand' (and frequently grande),
Sant' are used before a vowel: buon esempio 'good example',
buon'idea 'good idea', grand 'uomo 'great man', grande amore 'great
love', Sant'Antonio 'Saint Anthony'; whilst the full forms buono,
grande, Santo are used before s + consonant: un buono studio 'a
good study', un grande schiaffo 'a great smack', Santo Stefano 'Saint
Stephen'.
In front of the other initial sounds which require uno rather than unboth
buon, gran, San, and buono, grande, Santo are used: un buon sciroppo 'a
good syrup', un gran gnocco 'a big bump', un buono psicologo 'a good
psychologist', un grande scendiletto 'a large bedside mat', but only the form
San is used before z : San Zenone 'Saint Zeno', San Zaccaria 'Saint
110 Italian Language Today
Zachariah', etc. Note the expressions gran cose 'great things', gran belle
gran brutti farti 'terrible things'.
notizie 'splendid news',

(b) Besides the endings listed in the above three categories (i)-(iii),
nouns may have the following endings:

(iv) (v) (vi)

Singular -a (masculine) -0 (masculine) -0 (masculine)
Plural -i (masculine) -a (feminine) -i (masculine)
-a (feminine)
Examples (iv): il dentista, i dentisti 'dentist, -s', il pianista, i
pianisti 'pianist, -s' (the feminine la dentista, le dentiste, la pianista,
le pianiste follow category (ii)), il poeta, ipoeti'poet, -s', ilproblema,
i problemi 'problem, -sl, il programma, iprogrammi 'programme, -s',
il telegramma, i telegrammi 'telegram, -s', il tema, i temi 'theme, -s';
(v) il paio, le paia 'pair, -s', il riso, le risa 'laughter', l'uovo, le uova
'egg, -s'; note the agreement in una delle piu grosse uova o r un uovo
dei piu grossi 'one of the biggest eggs'; (vi) the different plurals in
this category usually have different meanings: il braccio 'arm', le
braccia 'arms' (of the body), i bracci 'arms' (of an object), il dito
'finger', le dita 'fingers', but i diti when considered individually, as in
i diti mignoli 'little fingers', il fondamento 'foundation', le fon-
damenta 'foundations' (of a house), i fondamenti 'foundations'
(metaphorical), il membro 'member', le membra 'limbs', i membri
'members' (of a society), il muro 'wall', le mura 'city walls', i muri
'walls' (of a house). Sometimes however the plurals may have the
same meanings: il ginocchio 'knee', le ginocchia or i ginocchi, il len-
zuolo 'sheet', le lenzuola or i lenzuoli. Note il frutto, ifrutti 'fruit, -sY,
but la frutta collective.

(c) Invariable nouns and adjectives belong to the following groups:

(vii) Nouns ending with a stressed vowel: il caffs, i caffs 'coffee, -s',
la cittd, le cittd 'town, -sl, la virtu, le virtu 'virtue, -s'; here one can
add monosyllabic nouns: la gru, le gru 'crane, -s', il re, i re 'king, -s'.
(viii) Feminine nouns ending in -ie: la serie, le serie 'series', la specie,
le specie 'species', la superficie, le superficie (but also le superfici)
'surface, -s'. Note la moglie, le mogli 'wife, wives'. (ix) Nouns and
adjectives ending in -i: la crisi, le crisi 'crisis, -es', un numero
dispari, dei numeri dispari 'odd number, -s', un numero pari, dei
numeripari 'even number, -s'; in -a: if boia, i boia 'executioner, -s',
if cinema, i cinema 'cinema, -s', il vaglia, i vaglia 'money order, -s';
 Grammar: A n Outline 111
in -0: l'auto, le auto 'car, -s', la moto, le moto 'motorcycle, -s', la
radio, le radio 'radio, -s'. The names of the letters of the alphabet
are normally invariable: una effe, due effe 'one ef, two efs', una
zeta, due zeta 'one zed, two zeds', but one finds quattro acche,
literally 'four aitches', in the sense of 'a few elementary notions'.
Contralto, soprano are normally used as masculine nouns and may
be invariable in the plural (Ada t un contralto 'Ada is a contralto',
Ada e Anna sono dei contralti or contralto 'Ada and Anna are
contraltos'); if used in the feminine (la contralto, la soprano), they
are always invariable (le contralto, le soprano). (x) Nouns and
adjectives of foreign origin: i f bar, i bar, i f film, i film, lo sport, gli
sport, i f tram, i tram; una gonna beige, delle gonne beige 'beige skirt,
-s', la sciarpa blu, le sciarpe blu 'blue scarf, -ves', la borsa marron,
le borse marron 'brown bag, -sl.
Note that there is no obvious rule for making a foreign noun masculine or
feminine in Italian. With French and German nouns it is advisable to keep
the original gender (treating the German neuter as a masculine); but some-
times the gender of an Italian word, ety~~ologically or semantically related,
prevails: una Friiulein 'a (German) Miss' or 'a (German) nanny'; as well as
le 'Fleurs du mal' di Baudelaire one also meets i 'Fleurs d u mal', on the
model of Italian fiori. With English words, after a period of uncertainty, the
masculine has become standard for instance in il film, il radar, and the
feminine in la coca-cola, la jeep; with words like pub and suspense both
genders are found.
(xi) Adjectives which were originally nouns: il guanto marrone, i
guanti marrone 'brown glove, -s' (marrone can be used as well as
marron quoted in (x) above; there is also a plural marroni ), un faz-
zoletto rosa, dei fazzoletti rosa 'pink handkerchief, -ves', la crauatta
viola, le cravatte viola 'mauve tie, -s'. (xii) Names of professions for
males and females may be indicated by the same word (la guardia
'the guard'), or by homophonous words of a different gender (un
cantante, una cantante 'a singer'), or by words with different
endings or suffixes (maestro, maestra 'teacher', senatore, senatrice
'senator', professore, professoressa 'professor'). The situation is
evolving, owing to changes in social conditions and pressure from
the feminist movement.'

(d) As a last point observe that Italian normally uses the singular
(whereas English uses the plural) when there is a plurality of things
of which each individual has one: aueuano il naso rosso 'their noses
were red', portauano tutti il cappotto 'they all had their coats on'.
112 Italian Language Today

7 Comparatives and superlatives

PiZl 'more' and meno 'less' are used to form comparatives; ilpiic and
il meno are used to form the relative superlative (indicating the
highest degree); the absolute superlative (indicating a very high
degree) is formed by adding the suffix -issimo to the stem of the
adjective.

Comparative Relative superlative Absolute superlative

bello piu bello il piu be110 bellissimo
meno bello il meno bello
brutto piu brutto il pit2 brutto bruttissimo
meno brutto il meno brutto
Examples: questo Ppili bello 'this is nicer', quello 2 ilpiu brutto'that
is the ugliest', lei 2 gentilissima 'she is very kind', questo t? meno
difficile 'this is less difficult', questo 2 il meno costoso 'this is the least
expensive'. The distinction between comparative, with no article,
and superlative, with the definite article, is neutralized when they
are attributes of a noun with a definite article: questa scatola 2 piu
grande 'this box is bigger', questa scarola e la piu grande 'this box is
the biggest', ecco la scatola piu grande 'here is the bigger box' and
'here is the biggest box'.
(a) piu and menocan also be used adjectively, as in mipiace conpiu zucchero
' I like it with more sugar', vorrei avere meno difficoltb ' I wish I had fewer
difficulties', or adverbially, as in non ne voglio piu ' I don't want any more
(than I've had)' literally 'any of it any longer' (non ne voglio di piu means 'I
don't want more (than I've got)'), non mi piace piu 'I don't like it any more'
(non mi piace di piu means ' I do not like it more');
(b) in the form questi sono ipiu piccoli possibile 'these are the very smallest'
possibile is invariable;
(c) Italian uses tutti where English uses 'any' in sentences like t?piri vecchio
di tutti i miei amici 'he is older than any of my friends';
(d) the suffix -issirno may also be added to nouns, but apart from expres-
sions which have become almost technical, like il campionissimo 'the super
champion', canzonissima (the name of a television song contest), other
forms like augurissimi 'very best wishes', salutissimi 'best greetings' are
rather affected. With nouns intensification can also be obtained by
doubling: caffP cafft? 'real coffee' (and not a substitute);
(e) intensification of an adjective can be obtained (as well as by combining
it with an adverb) by doubling it: una stanza moltopiccofaor piccofa piccola
 Grammar: A n Outline 113
'a very small room'. Another adjective can also be added, producing pairs
in a fixed order like bagnato fradicio 'soaking wet', pieno zeppo'chock full',
sporco lurido 'filthy dirty', stanco morto 'dead tired', wcchio decrepit0 'old
and decrepit';
(f) note that both orders are possible: questo P ilpiu be1 libro che io abbia
letto and questo P il libro piri bello che io abbia letto 'this is the best book I
ever read'.
Certain adjectives, alongside forms which follow the above pat-
tern, have forms which derive from Latin comparatives and superla-
tives:
Comparative Relative superlative Absolute superlative
buono migliore il migliore ottimo
cattivo peggiore il peggiore pessimo
grande maggiore il maggiore massimo
piccolo minore il minore minimo
The two forms may be interchangeable: abbiamo fatto un ottimo or buonis-
simo pranzo 'we had an excellent meal', questo vino ha un gusro pessimo or
cattivissimo 'this wine has a horrible taste'; but expressions like il minimo
disturbo 'the least trouble', la massima ammirazione 'the greatest admira-
tion' correspond to il piu piccolo disturbo, not to ilpiccolissimo disturbo, and
to la piri grande ammirazione, not to la grandissima ammirazione.
Note the adverbial use of meglio and peggio as comparatives of bene and
male (see chapter V . 7): P meglio che tuparta 'it is better that you leave', le
cose vanno ancora peggio 'things are even worse'; occasionally as adjec-
tives: questo k meglio di quello 'this is better than that', and as nouns: il
peggio P che ha rifiutato 'the worst is that he refused'.
In comparative sentences di 'than' is normally used: t piu intel-
ligente di te 'he is more intelligent than you', meno di due ore 'less
than two hours', oggi c ' t piu vento di ieri 'today is windier than yes-
terday'; but che is sometimes found in its place: oggi c 3 p i u vento che
ieri. Che is used when two terms are compared directly (and not by
means of another term as in Ugo P piti intelligente di re): fa meno
caldo a1 mare che in cittb 'it is less hot by the sea than in town', hopiu
stampe che quadri ' I have more prints than paintings' (but apprezza
piu le stampe dei or che i quadri 'he appreciates prints more than
paintings'), Ugo 4 piu furbo che intelligente 'Ugo is more crafty than
intelligent', si comporta vilmente piu che prudentemente 'he is
behaving in a cowardly rather than in a cautious manner'.
Comparative clauses can be constructed in a variety of ways: t
arrivato piu presto che non m i aspettassi, o r L arrivato piu presto di
quanto (non) m i aspettavo (or aspettassi), o r L arrivato piu presto di
114 Italian Language Today
quello che mi aspettauo (or aspettassi) 'he arrived earlier than I
expected'; mi diede meno carta che non ne auessi chiesta, or mi diede
meno carta di quanta (non) ne aueuo (or auessi) chiesta, or mi diede
meno carta di quella che aueuo (or auessi) chiesta 'he gave me less
paper than 1 had asked for'; t piu piccolo che non immaginassi, or t
piu piccolo di quanto (non) immaginauo (or immaginassi), or 2 piu
piccolo di quello che immaginauo (or immaginassi), or 2 piu piccolo
di come lo immaginauo (or immaginassi) 'he is smaller than I
imagined' (Note the use of pleonastic non; cf. chapter VI note 16).
Correlative terms introducing comparisons are cosl . . . come,
tanto . . . quanto, altrettanto . . . quanto; che may replace the adver-
bial quanto (purists object to this use of che, as also to sia . . . che
replacing sia . . . sia 'both. . . and', 'whether. . . or'; the forms with
che are more colloquial): riesce tanto nella pittura quanto (or che)
nella scultura 'he is as good at painting as he is at sculpture', non ho
tanti libri quanti mio fratello (quanti is used adjectivally and cannot
be replaced by che) 'I haven't as many books as my brother', t uno
scrittore altrettanto noto all'estero quanto (or che) in Italia 'he is a
writer who is as well known abroad as in Italy'. C'erano tanto uomini
quanto donne means 'there were both men and women', whereas
c'erano tanti uomini quante donne means 'there were as many men
as women'; in sentences like the latter the agreement is with the
noun that follows: quante (not quanti) donne.

8 Adverbs
Adverbs are usually formed by adding -mente to the feminine
singular of the adjective: lentamente 'slowly', rapidamente'quickly',
certamente 'certainly'; if the adjective ends in -1e or -re, the -e is
dropped before -mente: facilmente 'easily', gentilmente 'kindly',
particolarmente 'particularly' (but also beneuolmente, leggermente,
uiolentemente, corresponding to beneuolo 'benevolent', leggero
'light', uiolento 'violent').
Sometimes an adverb consists of the form of the masculine adjec-
tive: parla piano 'speak quietly', abitiamo uicino 'we live nearby', or
of di followed by a masculine adjective: di nuouo 'again', di recente
'recently'. Many adverbs of time and place are unconnected with
adjectives: adesso 'now', oggi 'today', qua 'here', li 'there', etc.
 Grammar: A n Outline 115
Adverbs have comparative and superlative forms parallel to the
adjectival ones: glielo ha detto gentilmente 'he told him in a kind
way', glielo ha detto piu gentilmente 'he told him in a kinder way',
glielo ha detto gentilissimamente or molto gentilmente 'he told him in
a very kind way'; note the equivalence of the relative superlative
followed by possibile and of the comparative followed by che and the
required form of the verb potere: glielo ha detto il pit? gentilmente
possibile or glielo ha detto pill gentilmente che poteva 'he told him in
as kind a way as possible'.
Bene 'well' and male 'badly' also have forms which derive from
the Latin comparatives and superlatives: bene, meglio, il megliopos-
sibile, ottimamente; male, peggio, il peggio possibile, pessimamente:
l'ha aggiustato il megliopossibile or l'ha aggiustato meglio chepoteva
'he mended it as well as possible' or 'as well as he could', l'ha aggiu-
stato ottimamente or benissimo or molto bene 'he mended it very
well'. Italian frequently uses adjectives where English uses adverbs:
parlava tranquilla 'she was speaking calmly', camminavano svelti
(or svelto with the adverbial use of the masculine singular)' 'they
were walking quickly'.

9 Personal pronouns
(a) Subject pronouns are omitted in Italian unless they are needed
for emphasis, contrast or clarity: ho aperto la porta ' I opened the
door', but mi ha autorizzato lei 'it was she who gave mc permission', io
vado, e tu? 'I am going, what about you?', mi chiese cosa tu voiessi
'he asked me what you wanted' (without tu the meaning might be
'what I wanted'). The pronoun is often used in a coordinated clause
if the subject has not been mentioned in a preceding one: quando
cominci; a piovere chiuse la jinestra (main clause without pronoun)
'when it began to rain he shut the window', but comincid a piovere e
lui chiuse la finestra (coordinate with pronoun) 'it began to rain and
he shut the window', hanno suonato il campanello e lui si e alzato in
piedi 'they rang the bell and he got up', hanno scritto varie volte ma
lui non ha risposto 'they wrote several times but he did not answer'.
Note the difference between Italian and English usages in cases like
Chi e?- l o 'Who is it? - Me'; anch'io 'me too'; iofarcosi?'what, me
do that?'.
116 Italian Language Today

Stressed Ur~stressed
(or Disjunctive) (or Conjunctive)

Indirect
object
Direct (only after Direct Indirect
Subject object preposition) object object
Singular 1 io me me mi . mi
2 tu re te ti ti
lui lui lo gli
esso ne
lui
ella lei lei la
essa
lei
Reflexive sk

Plural 1 noi noi noi ci ci

2 voi voi voi vi vi
3 essi Ioro lor0 li lor0
Masculine
(lor0 essi gli

lor0 lor0
Feminine
esse
Reflexive se se si si

(i) When pronouns (or pronouns and proper names) are coordi-
nated, their order is free in Italian, unlike English; after e 'and',
however, the form te is more common than tu: tu e io or io e te 'you
and 1'; tu e lui or lui e te 'you and he'; tu e Ugo or Ugo e te 'you and
Ugo'; io, tu e lui or io, lui e re, etc. 'he, you and 1'.
(ii) The most commonly used third person pronouns are lui, lei, loro;
egli, essi are used in the literary (or formal spoken) language, refer-
ring to people, so are essa and esse, which can however also refer to
things and animals. Esso usually refers to a thing or an animal, but it
is not used in colloquial Italian. Ella is more formal than essa and
only refers to a person.
(iii) In forms of address lei (which may be written with a capital
initial: Lei) is the polite pronoun in the singular; its plural counter-
part loro (or Loro) is more formal and tends to be substituted by voi.
Ella can be used as a more formal alternative to lei. Even though lei
 Grammar: A n Outline 117
was originally a feminine pronoun, if the person addressed is a man
an accompanying adjective or past participle is normally masculine:
lei t sicuro di venire? 'are you sure you are coming?'.
Another polite form of singular address is voi. The relative for-
mality of lei and voi varies in different parts of Italy, but voiis in any
case disappearing as a singular form of address and foreigners
should use lei for acquaintances and tu for friends and colleagues;
the use of tu roughly corresponds to being on Christian name terms
in English.

(b) Stressed direct object pronouns are used for emphasis or con-
trast: invito re, non lui 'I am inviting you, not him', and after come
'as, like', tranne 'except': come me, tranne re, and in exclamations:
povero me! 'poor me!'. Esso cannot be used as a direct object;
either an unstressed pronoun or an expression which is not a per-
sonal pronoun has to be used. While with a human referent one has
(i) ha visto Ugo? 'did he see Ugo?', (ii) l'ha visto 'he saw him', (iii)
ha visto non solo lui ma anche Ada 'he saw not only him but also
Ada', with a non-human referent one has (i) ha perso ilportafoglio?
'did he lose his wallet?', (ii) l'ha perso 'he lost it', but (iii) ha perso
non solo quello (and not esso) ma anche le chiavi 'he lost not only
that but also his keys'. With the object lei in forms of address the
agreement is usually ad sensum: considerano lei avaro e me generoso
'they consider you stingy and me generous' (with lei referring to a
man).

(c) Indirect object stressed pronouns are used if a preposition is

followed by a pronoun: esco con lui ' I am going out with him', parlo
di te ' I am talking about you'. Ha telefonato a re 'he rang you' has an
emphatic form of the pronoun vs. the unmarked ti ha telefonato,but
parla di te has no counterpart with an unstressed pronoun and there-
fore is felt to be unmarked and not emphatic. Ella is avoided as
indirect object, per lei, a lei, etc., being preferred to per ella, adella,
etc.
A systematic use is made of the difference between the third
person lui and the third person reflexive st: lo fa per lui 'he does it
for him' vs. lo fa per st 'he does it for himself'; st and st stesso are
always objects and cannot be used for the subject: what corresponds
to 'he said it himself' is l'ha detto lui or lui stesso, and not st or st
stesso. English and Italian differ in sentences like guarda dietro a st?
(with st referring to the subject of guarda) and guarda dietro a lui
118 Italian Language Today
(with lui being different from the subject of guarda) which both
correspond to 'he looks behind him'.
(d) Unstressed pronouns precede the verb (except for the cases dis-
cussed below): ti vedo 'I see you', lo compro 'I buy it', ti sta scrivendo
'he is writing to you*, gli parlo 'I am speaking to him'.
Lo can be a neuter pronoun referring to a whole sentence: E'arrivato. -
Non lo sapew 'He has arrived. - I did not know'. It can a l s be ~ used in
constructions like: Ada t magra? - Sl, lo t 'Is Ada thin? - Yes she is'; li
credevo intelligenti ma non lo sono 'I thought they were intelligent but they
are not'; la can be used neutrally in expressions like la sa lunga 'he knows
the lot', se la vede brutta 'he is in a fix', ce la fa 'he can manage', se la sente
'he feels up to it', me la paghi 'you'll pay me for it1, etc.
The choice of the unstressed pronoun may depend on the verb: cf. pensa
a Ugo 'she is thinking of Ugo', pensa a lui, lo pensa; pensa a1 gatto 'she is
thinking of the cat', pensa a luior ad esso; si t abituata a Ugo 'she got used to
Ugo', si t abituata a lui, but no unstressed pronoun comes naturally in the
above two examples; sit abituata alpericolo 'she got used to the danger', si t
abituata ad esso, ci si t abituata. We find the expected use of the pronoun in
dd un calcio a Ugo 'she kicks Ugo', dd un calcio a lui, gli dd un calcio; but for
dd un calcio a1 leggio 'she kicks the lectern' there is no readily acceptable
use of the pronouns, either stressed ( a lui, ad esso) o r unstressed (gli, ci).
With loro there are three different usages. In the literary language it could
precede the verb: Caron dimonio, con occhi di bragia/loro accennando tutte
le raccoglie 'the demon Charon, with eyes of burning coal, beckons to them
and gathers them all in' (Dante, Inferno 111, 109-110, J . D. Sinclair's
translation); in modern Italian it needs to be preceded by at least one verbal
element: dopo aver loro detto . . . 'after having told them', with loro
unstressed like ti in dopo averti detto; dopo aver detto loro . . . which is more
frequent but does not fit into the same category as the other unstressed
pronouns, as it follows the verb, and so tends to alternate with the fully
stressed indirect object pronoun of dopo aver detto a loro . . . In colloquial
Italian gli frequently replaces the unstressed indirect object loro: gli sto
facendo un favore 'I am doing them a favour' (in line with ti sto facendo, ui
sto facendo) instead of sto facendo loro un favore.
Ne is used for the partitive: ho molte pesche, ne vuoi? 'I have a lot of
peaches, do you want some?'; it is also used with numbers: ne vuoidue?'do
you want two?'; and for complements of specification: conosco l'autore di
questo libro ' I know the author of this book': ne conosco l'autore 'I know its
author'. As well as corresponding to 'of it, of them' ne may be used for
'about it, about them': t meglio parlarne 'we had better talk about it'. In
this case it replaces di + -; in ne proviene 'he comes from there' it replaces
di or da + -, but it cannot be used indiscriminately for any di or da
construction: t stato ucciso dai nemici 'he was killed by the enemy' cannot
 Grammar: An Outline 119
become ne 6 stato ucciso; ne 6 stato colpito 'he was hit by it' would be
expanded into 6 stato colpito da questa situazione 'he was hit by this situa-
tion' rather than into & stato colpito da unproiettile'he was hit by a bullet'; in
c 3 stato un incendio e l'edificio ne 6 rimasto distrutto 'there was a fire in
which the building was destroyed', ne indicates 'as a consequence' rather
than 'by'.
Note that ne can be used for a noun phrase which functions as a direct
object, but not for one which functions as a subject: to ho visto i tuoi amici
' I saw your friends', we can relate ne ho visto uno ' I saw one of them', but to
hanno telefonato i tuoi amici 'your friends phoned' we cannot relate ne ha
telefonato uno 'one of them phoned'. With intransitive verbs using the
auxiliary essere, however, to sono arrivati i tuoi amici 'your friends have
arrived' we can relate ne ?. arrivato uno 'one of them has arrivedleg
La and le are, as we have seen, the polite direct and indirect forms corres-
ponding to lei: la saluto e le faccio i miei auguri ' I a m sending you my greet-
ings and best wishes'. With a lei form of address referring to a man, although
an accompanying adjective o r past participle is normally masculine (see
(a)(iii) above), the unstressed object pronoun is la: se lei 6 sicuro di uenire,
mio fratello pub aspettarla alla stazione 'if you are sure you are coming, my
brother can meet you at the station'. If la is the object of a compound tense,
then the past participle is normally feminine: ricorda, signor Biffi, che l'ho
incontrata l'anno scorso? 'do you remember, M r Biffi, that I met you last
year?'. With an adjective the agreement ad sensum is more common: la
credevo occupato, dottore ' I thought you were busy, doctor'; but also, more
formally, la credevo occupata, dottore.

When two unstressed pronouns are used, the indirect object usu-
ally precedes, and mi, ti, si, ci, vi change before lo, la, li, le and ne to
me, te, se, ce, ve: me la dh 'he gives it to me', re neparla 'he talks to
you about it' (for more details see chapter VI. 10). Gli and lechange
before the same pronouns to glie which combines with the pronoun
which follows: glielo do 'I give it to him (or: to her)', gliene parlerh
'he will speak to him (or: to her) about it'.
Unstressed pronouns follow the verb in the cases set out below;
except for loro, which in spelling always remains separate, they
attach themselves to these forms of the verb (which retain their
original stress):

(i) the infinitive: per dirvi 'to tell you', senza dirvelo 'without telling
it to you', per dir(e) loro 'to tell them'; in the first two cases the final
-e of the infinitive falls (and any final double consonant of the stem
is simplified, as in condurre 'to lead': condurlo), in the third case
truncation is optional. When the infinitive is part of the second
120 Italian Language Today
person negative imperative, as in non parlare 'do not talk', the pro-
noun usually follows: non farlo 'do not d o it', but it may also pre-
cede: non lo fare;
(ii) the gerund: mostrandogli 'showing to him', dicendoglielo'saying
it to him';
(iii) a past participle standing on its own: cedutogli 'having given in
to him';
(iv) an imperative in the second person singular or plural, or first
person plural: vattene! 'go away!' (note the -tt- which conforms to
the rules of syntactic doubling), bambini, salutateci 'children, say
good-bye to us', mandiamolo 'let us send it'. But if the imperative is
in the lei and not in the tu form, i.e., when the third person singular
or plural of the subjunctive is used, the pronoun precedes the verb:
lo guardi pure vs. guardalo pure 'do look at it'. Here is a full table of
the imperative (and its negative forms) with pronouns:

compralo 'buy it*; non comprarlo or non lo comprare

lo compri 'let him buy it' or 'buy it' (with the lei form of address); non
lo compri
compriamolo 'let's buy it'; non compriamolo or non lo compriamo
compratelo 'buy it' (plural); non compratelo or non lo comprate
lo comprino 'let them buy it' or 'buy it' (with the loro form of
address); non lo comprino.

(v) in rare cases, in non-colloquial usage, the present participle may

also be followed by a (reflexive) pronoun: la nota riferentesi a questo
'the note referring to this'.
In constructions of verb + infinitive the direct or indirect object pronoun
may go either after the infinitive which governs it, or with the first verb
(before or after it, according to the above rules): lo voglio vedere or voglio
vederlo 'I want to see him', vallo a vedere or va a vederlo 'go and see him'.
But there are limitations depending on the syntactic function of the pro-
noun: a clitic cannot follow the infinitive if it represents its subject: lo ho
sentito gridare may mean ' I heard him shout' o r 'I heard it shouted', but ho
sentito gridarlo only means ' I heard it shouted'. Cf. the contrast between lo
pregano di ascoltare 'they ask him to listen' and pregano di ascoltarlo 'they
ask that he be listened to'. With reflexives, when the clitic goes with the
main verb this then takes the auxiliary essere (cf. chapter V . 16(n)): misono
 Grammar: A n Outline 121
potuto adattare or ho potuto adattarmi ' I was able to adapt myself', essendoti
dovuto fermare or avendo dovuto fermarti 'as you had to stop', per essersi
voluto impegnare or per aver voluto impegnarsi 'because he chose to commit
himself', si 8 cominciata a preoccupare or ha corninciato a preoccuparsi 'she
started worrying'.
(A) If the infinitive follows a modal (potere 'can', dovere 'must', wlere 'will')
and some other verbs (like sapere 'to know how to', solere'to have the habit
of', cominciare a 'to begin to', provare a 'to try to', etc.) the reflexive clitic
may be attached either to the infinitive or to the main verb: Ugo deve alzarsi
or Ugo si deve alzare 'Ugo must get up'.
(B) If the infinitive follows parere, sembrare 'to seem to', other verbs like
aspirare a 'to aspire to', or reflexives like mettersi a 'to start to', the reflexive
clitic can only follow the infinitive: Ugo pare alzarsi (and not sipare alzare)
'Ugo seems to be getting up'.
(C) If the infinitive follows verbs of perception (senrire 'to feel', 'to hear',
vedere 'to see', etc.) the reflexive clitic referring to the subject of the main
verb can only precede it, but note that Ugo si sente alzare is more readily
interpreted as 'Ugo feels that he is being lifted up' than as 'Ugo feels himself
getting up'; the latter (suggesting perhaps that he is getting up under some
mysterious compulsion rather than of his own free will) would be rendered
by other expressions like Ugo sente che si sta alzando, o r even, more clum-
sily, Ugo si sente alzarsi, but in any case not by Ugo sente alzarsi where the
clitic would refer to the subject of the infinitive and this would need to be
expressed: Ugo sente qualcuno alzarsi 'Ugo hears somebody get up'. If the
infinitive is not reflexive, its subject need not be expressed, as in Ugosente
camminare 'Ugo hears (somebody) walk', or 'hears footsteps'. With fare'to
make' and lasciare 'to let', if the subject of the main verb and of the infini-
tive is the same, we have Ugo si fa alzare (but si costringe ad alzarsi would
be more acceptable) 'Ugo makes himself get up'; otherwise the subject of
the infinitive is normally expressed and the clitic must be omitted: Ugo fa
alzare (not alzarsi) Ada 'Ugo makes Ada get up' (this can also mean 'Ugo
has Ada lifted up') (cf. chapter VI. 12(a)(iii)).
When there is a preposition between the verb and the infinitive it is
mainly a that allows the alternative position of the pronoun: comincio a
capirlo or lo comincio a capire ' I am beginning to understand it', but only
cerco di finirlo ' I am trying to finish it1, spero di trovarlo 'I hope to find
him', aspetto di vederlo ' I am waiting to see him'. One can, however, find
sto per farlo and lo sto per fare ' I am about to do it', ho gid finito di leggerlo
and l'ho gid finito di leggere ' I have already finished reading it'.
If the infinitive depends on fare 'make', lasciare 'let', the pronoun goes
with them and not with the infinitive: lo faccio liberare 'I shall have him set
free', glielo faccio mandare ' I shall have it sent to him'. With verbs of
perception like sentire 'feel', 'hear', vedere 'see', etc., we have: gliel'ho sen-
122 Italian Language Today
tita cantare ' I heard him sing it', gliele ho viste scrivere ' I saw him write
them', and, less acceptable, l'ho sentito cantarla, l'ho visto scriverle with the
object of the infinitive following it and the subject preceding the main verb;
one can always avoid this choice and say: l'ho sentito che la cantava, l'ho
visto che le scriveva (cf. chapter V I . 11).

10 Possessives

Singular Plural
Masculine Feminine Masculine Feminine
1 mio mia miei mie 'my, mine'
Singular 2 tuo tua tuoi tue 'your, yours'
3 suo sua suoi sue 'his, her, hers'
1 nostro nostra nostri nostre 'our, ours'
Plural 2 vostro vostra vostri vostre 'your, yours'
3 lor0 lor0 lor0 lor0 'their, theirs'

From possessive adjectives or pronouns in Italian one can gather

whether (a) the possessor is first, second or third person (as in
English), (b) the possessor is singular or plural (as in English), (c)
the thing possessed is masculine or feminine, singular or plural
(unlike English), because they agree in gender and number with the
noun. English unlike Italian also conveys the gender of the pos-
sessor in the third person singular. Example: il suo gatto 'his (or:
her) cat1, i suoi gatti 'his (or: her) cats', il nostro gatto 'our cat1,
i nostri gatti 'our cats'. If one needs to avoid ambiguity one can use
the heavier forms il gatto di lui, or di lei; also to avoid ambiguity
proprio can be used instead of suo with reference to the subject, as
'own' can be used in English: Ugoprese leproprie carte'ugo took his
(own) papers'. Proprio can also be used to emphasize ownership: il
mioproprio, il suoproprio, etc. Note that, with a noun, expressions
like il suo proprio libro etc. become very heavy and are avoided.
The article is normally used before possessives (as in the above
examples): ho perso il mio accendino, posso usare il tuo? 'I have lost
my lighter, can I use yours?'. Possessives can also be used with the
indefinite article, with numbers, and with demonstrative adjectives:
un mio amico 'a friend of mine', due tuoi ammiratori 'two admirers
 Grammar: A n Outline 123
of yours', questo vostro sbaglio 'this mistake of yours', quel suo sor-
riso 'that smile of hers'.
The article is not used with the possessive when it accompanies a
singular noun, not qualified by suffixes or adjectives, denoting
family relationships (loro however takes the article): mia madre'my
mother', nostro padre 'our father', tuo fratello 'your brother'; but il
tuo cugino preferito 'your favourite cousin', il loro zio'their uncle', le
mie cognate 'my sisters-in-law', i miei suoceri 'my parents-in-law',
la sua cuginetta 'his little cousin'. Mamma 'mother', 'mummy', papd
and babbo 'father', 'daddy', nonna 'grandmother', nonno 'grand-
father' are found both with and without the article: la mia mamma
or mia mamma, il mio nonno or mio nonno, etc. The article is not
used in constructions like li consideriamo nostri amici 'we consider
them our friends', l'hai accettata come tua collega? 'have you
accepted her as your colleague?', t mia intenzione andare a Venezia
'it my intention to go to Venice', 2 suo desiderio vederti alpiu presto
'it is his wish to see you as soon as possible' (see chapter VI.
2(b)(v)
Note the difference between questa casa t mia'this house is mine'
(it is my property), questa casa t la mia 'this house is mine' (and not
someone else's), and questa t la mia casa 'this (and not another) is
my house'.

11 Interrogatives and relatives

(a) Interrogative adjectives che 'what' (invariable), quale (plural
quali) 'which', quanto (-a, -i, -e) 'how much, how many'. Examples:
che treno prendi? 'what train are you catching?', che dischi avete
scelti? 'what records did you choose?', quale sediapreferisci?'which
chair d o you prefer?', quali fiori vuoi?'which flowers d o you want?',
quanto cioccolato ha comprato? 'how much chocolate has he
bought?', quante uoua hai venduto? 'how many eggs have you
sold?'.
(b) Interrogative pronouns chi 'who' (invariable), che, che cosa,
cosa 'what' (invariable) (cosa, frowned on by purists, is probably the
most common of the three), quale, quantoas above. Examples: c h i t
arrivato? 'who has arrived?', chi hai visto? 'whom did you see?', che
c't?, che cosa c't?, cosa c 3 ? 'what is the matter?', che cosa vuoi?
'what d o you want?', cosa ha detto? 'what did he say?', quale hai
124 Italian Language Today
scelto? 'which did you choose?', quanto costa? 'how much does it
cost?'. The subject normally goes at the end (or at the beginning) of
the clause and not between the question word and the verb: quanto
costa la sciarpa? or la sciarpa quanto costa? (not quanto la sciarpa
costa?) 'how much is the scarf?'.
If the question does not include an interrogative word, inter-
rogation is usually conveyed in Italian not by inversion but by
intonation, i.e., there is a rising- tone on the last stressed word of the
sentence. The rising tone remains on the same word even when
interrogation is conveyed by inversion: tua sorella vuol venire? and
vuol venire tua sorella? (both with rising tone on venire) mean 'does
your sister want to come?'. With a rising tone on sorella both sen-
tences would mean 'is it your sister who wants to come?'. Note that
inversion does not produce vuole tua sorella venire?: the postposed
subject normally goes at the end of the clause. Similarly: i conigli
hanno mangiato? 'have the rabbits eaten?', or, with inversion,
hanno mangiato i conigli?, both with a rising tone on mangiato(with
a rising tone on conigli the latter sentence would mean 'have they
eaten the rabbits?'); puoi farlo? 'can you d o it?'; inversion here
would result in puoi farlo tu? (with a rising tone on farlo), and not in
puoi tu farlo?; with a rising tone on tu, the question corresponds to
the statement tu puoi farlo rather than puoi farlo (see chapter V I . 1
for some notes on intonation and word order).
(c) Relative pronouns che 'who, whom, which'; cui (indirect) is nor-
mally used with a preposition: a cui (and more rarely cui by itself)
'to whom, to which', da cui 'from whom, from which', di cui 'of
whom, of which'. Che and cui can be replaced by il quale, la quale,
del quale, della quale, etc., to avoid ambiguities. Examples: l'uomo
che 2 entrato 'the man who came in', la donna che ho uisto 'the
woman I saw', il dolce che hai mangiato 'the cake you have eaten', la
figlia di Ugo la quale arriverd domani 'Ugo's daughter who will
arrive tomorrow', l'articolo di cui ti ho parlato 'the article I spoke to
you about', l'amica con cui sono andata in vacanza 'the friend I
went on holiday with'.
The relative consisting of article + quale is more rarely employed than
che. There would seem to be certain constraints; it is less likely to appear as
direct object than as subject: ecco la ragazza la quale sono oenuto aprendere
'here is the girl I came to collect' is less acceptable than ecco la ragazza la
quale P oenuta a prendermi 'here is the girl who came to collect me'; the
relative with quale is more likely to introduce an appositive than a restric-
tive clause: it is acceptable in ha scritto a un amico il quale l'ha aiutata 'she
 Grammar: A n Outline 125
wrote to a friend, and he helped her', whereas it would be less s o replacing
che in ha scritto a un amico che ['haaiutata 'she wrote to a friend who helped
her'.''
Note that relative quale without an article means 'such as': piante quali
crescono in montagna 'plants such as grow in the mountains' vs. piante le
quali crescono in montagna 'plants which grow in the mountains'.
Instead of Ugo, la sorella del quale ho visto in montagna 'Ugo, whose
sister I saw in the mountains', one has Ugo, la cui sorella ho visto in mon-
tagna (not la sorella di cui o r la di cui sorella);similarly mio nonno, i cui libri
ho ereditato 'my grandfather, whose books I inherited'; here one could say i
libri del quale, but not i libri di cui o r i di cui libri.
Chi and quanto have the additional function of a relative: chiedilo a chi se
ne intende 'ask someone who knows', quanto mi dici P interessante'what you
tell m e is interesting'.
Note the following constructions with che:
(i) P partito ieri, il che mi dispiace 'he left yesterday, which I regret'; cib che
mi dispiace could also be used, but che o n its own in this construction tends
to be avoided.
(ii) ricordo il giorno che sei arrivato 'I remember the day you arrived', P
arrivato che stavamo ancora mangiando, 'he arrived while we were still
eating', cantavano che era un piacere 'they were singing away'; here the use
of che instead of in cui, o r quando, o r in mod0 tale che, etc., is considered
grammatically correct. There are many instances in which che (alone, o r
with an indirect personal pronoun, e.g., che gli) replaces an indirect relative
pronoun (e.g., a cui);this has a literary tradition going back t o the origins of
Italian literature and is very common today in colloquial spoken Italian; as
such it is also found in modern novels, particularly in dialogue: P unapovera
diavola che le han detto che sono tornato in which che le equals a cui 'she is a
poor thing who was told I had come back'; quello era l'unico che gli
piacevano i miei quadri, in which che gli equals a cui 'he was the only one
who liked my pictures' (both examples from Pavese). This construction is
normally considered ungrammatical.
(iii) In some of the above examples che may be interpreted as a conjunction
rather than as a relative pronoun: 2 arrivato che stavamo ancora mangiando
might b e paraphrased as P arrivato tanto presto che stavamo ancora man-
giando 'he arrived so early that we were still eating'. Cases of this kind are
common in which it is difficult to define the exact force of che: non P
arrivato, che io sappia 'he has not arrived that I know of' o r 'he has not
arrived as far as I know'; in vedevo tornare Ugo che era stanco morto 'I saw
Ugo come back dead tired' che may be interpreted either as a relative pro-
noun o r as a conjunction with a consecutive value: (in condizioni tali) che
era stanco morto. In P lui che cercano 'it is him they are looking for' che may
appear to b e a relative pronoun, but in &perlui che si agitano 'it's him they
126 Italian Language Today
are getting worked up about' che appears to be a conjunction. In expres-
sions like lui si che capisce 'well, he understands', lui no che nonpub andare
'he certainly can't go', che also seems to be a conjunction. When che is a
conjunction, it may be omitted after verbs of thinking and believing: credo
(che) sia pronto 'I believe it's ready', penso (che) sia stato lui 'I think it was
him', whereas the pronoun che is never omitted in modern Italian.
(iv) Colloquial Italian often uses che in exclamations: che bello!'how nice!',
che bello che d! 'how nice it is!', che antipatico che sei!'how nasty you are!',
antipatico che sei!'nasty, you are!', chepalazzo!'what a building!', che roba!
'how awful!', che vita! 'what a life!'.

12 Negatives
These are the most common negative words apart from no 'no': non
'not', niente, nulla 'nothing', mai 'never', nessuno 'no one', 'no
(adjective)', non . . . alcuno 'not . . . any', 'no (adjective)', non . . .piu
'no longer', non . . . affatto, non . . . perniente 'not at all', non . . . mica
'not at all', neanche, neppure, nemmeno'not even', n t .. . nt'neither
. . . nor'.
In a negative sentence in Italian there must always be a negative
word before the verb; this may result in sentences with two nega,
tives: nessuno t venuto, o r non t venuto nessuno'no one came' (note
also t venuto nessuno? 'did anyone come?'), niente lo spaventa or
non lo spaventa niente 'nothing frightens him', non vedo niente 'I d o
not see anything', non t successo nulla 'nothing has happened' (note
the masculine agreement), non ho visto nessuno 'I did not see
anyone', non hai nessun bisogno o r alcun bisogno di uscire 'you have
no need to go out', non t mai venuto 'he never came', non t piu qui
'he is no longer here', non t affatto vero 'it is not true at all', non t
mica male 'it's not at all bad' (used mainly on a colloquial level,
implying that someone expected what is being denied; in this
example the expectation was, modestly perhaps, that something
should be bad)," non ne ho neanche uno 'I haven't got even one', a
me non piace e neanche a lui 'I don't like it and nor does he', non lo
dico n t a te n t a lui 'I am not telling you o r him'.
Non . . . punto, used similarly to non . . . affatto (and also with
punto inflected as an adjective) is a Tuscan regionalism: non ne ho
punto 'I don't have any', non ho punta sete 'I'm not at all thirsty'.
Senza may be the antecedent of niente, nessuno: se ne t andato
senza dir niente'he went off without saying anything', t restato senza
 Grammar: A n Outline 127
niente 'he was left without anything', t partito senza salutare nessuno
'he left without saying good-bye to anyone'.
Note the following colloquial usages: non t niente vero and non 2
vero niente 'it's not true at all', oggi niente zucchero 'no sugar today'.

13 Demonstratives
An earlier system (still used in Tuscan) had three terms, questo,
codesto, quello, referring respectively to the first person, i.e., the
speaker, the second person, i.e., the person addressed, and the third
person; codesto is now disappearing, and modern Italian has a two-
term system: questo, -a, -i, -e 'this, these', quello, -a, -i, -e 'that,
those' (similarly qui, costi, li; qua, costd, Id have been reduced to qui,
li; qua, la 'here, there'). The adjective quello has the same forms as
the definite article (see chapter V. 3(a)): quegli svedesi 'those
Swedes', but quelli svedesi 'the Swedish ones' (where quelli is the
pronoun and svedesi the adjective). Cid 'that' refers to a whole con-
cept. Examples: questo programma t difficile 'this programme is dif-
ficult', quale preferisci? - Questo 'which do you prefer? - This one',
quale uuoi? - Quello 'which do you want? -That one7,quello che or
cid che m i hai detto m i h a fatto piacere ' I was pleased by what you
told me', cid m i sorprende 'that surprises me'.
For the indirect object the form ci is used: penso a cib ' I am
thinking of that': ci penso.
Note that (a) questo is used rather than quelloin sentences like questo non
L vero 'that's not true', questo L strano 'that's odd', questo L ridicolo 'that's
ridiculous', queste sono balle 'that's a load of rubbish', etc.; (b) colui, colei,
coloro 'he, she, they' and costui, costei, costoro may be derogatory ('that
individual', etc.) and are rarely used. Instead of colui che, colei che, coloro
che, quello che, etc., chi is more commonly used as long as there is no need to
distinguish the gender: chi ha l'automobile ciarriva facilmente 'anyone with
a car can get there easily', literally 'he who has a car'; (c) in the literary
language questi and quegli can be used as singulars meaning 'this person',
'that person', or 'the latter', 'the former' (normally assubjects): considerate
Manzoni e Leopardi: questi fu il maggior poeta, quegli il maggior prosatore
dell'Ottocento 'consider Manzoni and Leopardi, the latter was the greatest
poet, the former the greatest prose writer of the nineteenth century'. Less
formally one uses questo . . . quello. The plural is in any case questi . . . quelli;
(d) quel di in a geographical context means 'the territory of': in quel di Como
'in the territory of Como'.
128 Italian Language Today
Stessoand medesimo'same' are usually listed with the demonstratives: mi
ha dato lo stesso libro 'he gave me the same book'. Stessocan also be used to
reinforce: mi ha daro il libro stesso 'he gave me the book itself'. In the
demonstrative sense it usually precedes, and in the reinforcing sense it usu-
ally follows the noun. In the latter sense it is not always used in the same way
as the English forms with '-self'; it is used with the force of 'in person, even',
etc., but not to emphasize a term which is in contrast with others: all'esame
gli studenti erano agitatissimi, e gli insegnanti sressi sembravano innervositi
corresponds to 'at the exam the students were very nervous, and the
teachers themselves seemed on edge', but the equivalent of the English 'at
the exam the students were very nervous, while the teachers themselves
seemed quite calm' cannot be mentre gli insegnanti stessi erano calmi and
would have to be menrre gli insegnanti invece, or gli insegnanti invece, or ma
gli insegnanri erano calmi; 'the car itself was undamaged, but the driver was
hurt' would be rendered with quanto alla macchina (not la macchina
stessa), non ha subito danni, ma il guidarore t? rimasto ferito. With the force
of 'as such' in sk, di per s& are used: 'the walk itself is not very nice, but the
exercise is good for one' would be rendered with lapasseggiara in sP(not la
passeggiata stessa) non & molto bella, ma & il mot0 che f a bene.

14 Indefinites
We give below examples of the use of indefinite adjectives and pro-
nouns grouped as far as possible according to meaning.
Tutto, tutti 'all', 'every' adjective and pronoun: ho mangiato tutta
la minestra ' I have eaten all the soup', tutti chiedono di re 'everyone
is asking after you', li ho visti tutti quanti61saw them all', sono venuti
tutti e due i ragazzi 'both boys came'. As well as tutti e due, for 'both'
one can also use entrambi (entrambi i ragazzi, entrambe le ragazze)
and, more rarely, ambedue (ambedue i ragazzi, ambedue le
ragazze). Note the presence of the article after tutto; both 'all
books' and 'all the books' correspond to tutti i libri; 'all day' and
'the whole day' to tutto il giorno.
Ogni 'every', 'each' invariable adjective, singular only, always
precedes the noun: mi alzo ogni mattina alle sette ' I get up every
morning at seven', bisogna spolverare ogni libro separatamente 'each
book must be dusted separately', vado a Roma ogni due settimane ' I
go to Rome every two weeks', ogni tanto viene a trovarmi 'every now
and then he comes to see me'.
Ognuno 'everyone' invariable pronoun, singular only: ognuno si t
comprato questo libro 'everyone bought this book'.
 Grammar: A n Outline 129
Ciascuno 'each', 'every' adjective and pronoun, singular only:
ciascuno pensa a st 'everyone thinks of himself', ho farto un regalo a
ciascuna ragazza ' I gave each girl a present', ce n'erano tre per cia-
scuno 'there were three each'.
Qualche 'some' invariable adjective, singular, used only with
countable nouns (i.e., nouns that can have a plural), always
precedes the noun: mi dai qualche esempio? 'would you give me
some examples?'; un qualche corresponds to 'some . . . or other': si
sara preso un qualche virus 'he has probably caught some virus or
other'. With uncountable nouns un po' di is used: mi dai un po' di
latte? 'would you give me some milk?'. Sometimes with uncount-
ables: dopo qualche tempo 'after some time', con qualche esitazione
'with some hesitation'.
Pronominally un poco can be used: me ne basta unpoco ' I only need a little',
but as the modifier of an adjective unpo'is normally used: P unpo'dolce'it's
a bit sweet'. Note also vuoi unpo'di sale?'do you want some salt?'andnot
un poco di, but ne vuoi un altro po'? or un altro poco 'do you want a little
more?'. The diminutives pochino, pochetto, pochettino, pocolinocan replace
both poco and po'. Note the idioms: P un poco di buono, & unapoco di buono
(not po') 'he, she is a bad lot'.
Alcuni 'some' adjective and pronoun, plural only; the singular
alcuno is only used in negative expressions, see chapter V. 11: ecco
alcune matite'here are some pencils', ne ho visti alcuni ' I saw some'.
Qualcuno (more rarely qualcheduno) 'someone' pronoun, sing-
ular only: t venuto qualcuno a cercarti 'someone came to look for
you';
qualcuno here may be known or not known to the speaker and it may refer
to a man or a woman; P venuto unoor P venuta una a cercartiimplies that the
speaker does not know the person or is not interested, and so do expres-
sions with the offhand un tale, una tale, un tizio, una tizia, etc. Qualcuno
may also correspond to 'anyone', as in se viene qualcuno chiamami'call me
i f anyone comes'.
Qualcosa or qualche cosa 'something' pronoun, singular only:
vuoi qualcosa da mangiare? 'do you want something to eat?', deve
essere success0 qualcosa (note the masculine agreement) 'something
must have happened', c'P qualcosa di interessante? (di must be used
in these expressions) 'is there anything interesting?'.
Qualunque, qualsiasi 'whatever' invariable adjectives, only with
a noun in the singular, if they precede it: qualunqueor qualsiasi libro
mi interessa 'any book whatsoever interests me', dammi u n libro
130 Italian Language Today
qualunque 'give me any book' (any book at all), a qualunque tavolo
ci si sieda c7t?corrente 'at whatever table one sits there is always a
draught', mi dia un tavolo qualunque 'give me any table you like';
note the difference in meaning depending on the order. Qualunque
and qualsiasi can go with a plural noun if they follow it: prendi dei
guanti qualsiasi 'take any old gloves' (or 'buy just ordinary gloves').
Chiunque 'whoever' pronoun, singular only, for people only (for
things qualunque cosa is used): chiunque chieda di me, di che non ci
sono 'whoever asks for me, say I am not in', chiunque si troverebbe
bene qui 'anyone would like it here', qualunque cosa ti dicano, non
crederci 'whatever they tell you don't you believe it'.
The forms checchP 'whatever' and chicchessia 'anyone' are rarely used in
modern Italian; they appear in sentences like checcht ne dica, questo vale di
piu 'whatever he may say, this is worth more', non uuol vedere chicchessia
'he does not want to see anyone', but the forms qualunquecosa 'whatever',
chiunque (nessuno in a negative sentence) 'whoever' are more common.
Uno 'someone' singular only: cerco uno di Milano 'I am looking for
someone from Milan' (either a specific person, o r anyone from Milan). It
may be used as an equivalent of the impersonal construction: qui uno
mangia bene (=qui si mangia bene) 'the food is good here', literally 'here
one eats well'.

15 Numerals
We give a list of cardinal and ordinal numbers from which all other
numbers can be formed:
(a) Cardinals
1 uno, 2 due, 3 tre, 4 quattro, 5 cinque, 6 sei, 7 sette, 8 otto, 9 nove, 10
dieci, 11 undici, 12 dodici, 13 tredici, 14 quattordici, 15 quindici, 16
sedici, 17 diciassette, 18 diciotto, 19 diciannove, 20 venti, 2 1 ven-
tuno, 22 ventidue, 28 ventotto, 30 trenta, 31 trentuno, 32 trentadue,
38 trentotto, 40 quaranta, 50 cinquanta, 60 sessanta, 70 settanta, 80
ottanta, 90 novanta, 100 cento, 101 centouno or cento e uno, 108
cento otto, 180 centortanta, 200 duecento, 300 trecento, 1000 mille,
1001 mille (e) uno, 1002 milledue, 1003 milletrt?, 1008 milleotto,
1110 millecentodieci, 2000 duemila, 3000 tremila, 1 000 000 un
milione, 1 000 001 un milione e uno, 2 000 000 due milioni,
1 000 000 000 un miliardo, 2 000 000 000 due miliardi.
Italian uses points, not commas, to separate thousands, and
commas not points, for decimals.
 Grammar: A n Outline 131
(b) Ordinals
1" primo, 2nd secondo, 3rd terzo, 4thquarto, 5Ih quinto, 6thsesto, 7th
settimo, gth ottavo, gth nono, lothdecimo, 1 lthundicesimo, 12th
dodicesimo, 1 7Ihdiciassertesimo, 2 Is' ventunesimo, 23rdventitreesimo.
(i) uno has both a masculine and a feminine form (una); its morphology is
the same as that of the indefinite article, although it is functionally diffe-
rent: un guanto e uno scialle 'one glove and one shawl'; the ordinals are
adjectives with the regular four endings -0, -a, -i, -e;
(ii) there is elision'in ventuno, ventotto, etc., and in centottanta (also cento
ottanta), rarely in centouno, cento otto, and not in milleorto; there is also
elision of the unstressed vowel before -esimo in undicesimo, etc. (but no
elision when there is a stressed vowel: ventitreesimo);
(iii) numbers from undici t o sedici are proparoxytones;
(iv) all cardinal numbers (except of course uno) go with plural nouns; this
also applies t o numbers ending in uno: ventuno studentesse, ventuno studenri
'twenty-one students' (avoid ventuna studentessa and ventuno studente,
which are rarely used). But when uno is written separately we find both
cento e uno pagine and cento e una pagina ' 101 pages', mille e uno persone
and mille e una persona ' I00 I people', cf. the Italian title for the Artrhiitn
Nights, Le mille e una norte. The elision of -0 in front of a vowel o r single
consonant is common: rrentun amici o r amiche 'thirty-one friends', uentun
gatti o r garte 'twenty-one cats';

(v) milione and miliardo are constructed with d i + plural: u n milione d i lire
'a million lire', but un milione e duecentomila lire ' 1 200 0 0 0 lire';
(vi) there are rarer forms: for duecento the Tuscanism dugento, for undi-
cesimo and dodicesimo the Latinisms undecimo and duodecimo; rare in
general use, but common t o indicate the centuries are decimoprimo,
decimosecondo, etc., which are also used with names of popes, kings, etc. (in
spelling Roman numerals are used): Luigi XI1 (dodicesimo o r decimo se-
condo), Giovanni XXIII (ventitreesimo o r ventesimo terzo o r vigesimo terzo;
also ventitrk but note that the cardinal numbers in these designations are
limited to familiar usage and are only employed for figures higher than
ten);'*

(vii) the centuries from the thirteenth on are usually called i l Duecento(= i l
secolo tredicesimo), il Trecento, etc. Using figures one normally writes: i l
'200, i l '300, etc.;

(viii) in dates the day of the month (except the first: il primo marzo '1st
March') is indicated by cardinal numbers: quanti ne abbiamo? - E' il tre
'what is the date? - It is the third';
132 Italian Language Today
(ix) Italians give the expressions gli anni venri, gli anni trenta, etc., not only
the meaning of 'the Twenties', 'theThirties', etc., but sometimes also that of
the years just before and after 1920, 1930, etc.;13
(x) time is indicated as follows (in our examples we use the twelve-hour
clock, although the twenty-four-hour one can also be used): 2 l'una 'it's one
o'clock', & mezzanotte 'it's midnight', 6 mezzogiorno 'it's midday', & la
mezza 'it's half past twelve', sono le due, 'it's two o'clock', le tree cinque 'five
past three', le quattro e un quarto o r le quattro e quindici 'a quarter past four',
le cinque e mezzo o r mezza o r le cinque e trenta 'half past five', le sei e
quarantacinque o r le sei e tre quarti 'six forty-five', le sette e cinquantacinque
'seven fifty-five'. After the half hour one can also say (sono) le otto meno
venti o r (mancano) venti alle otto 'it's twenty t o eight', (sono) le nove meno
un quarto o r (manca) un quarto alle nove 'it's a quarter to nine', etc.;
(xi) mezzo is used above as invariable, mezza agrees with a n implied ora
'hour'. Note also the following uses of mezzo: una mezz'ora 'about half an
hour' vs. mezz'ora 'half an hour'; due mezze porzioni di riso 'two half por-
tions of rice'; patate mezze sbucciate 'half-peeled potatoes'; era mezza
morta 'she was half dead' (in this adverbial sense also invariable: patate
mezzo sbucciate); in business Italian mezzo is sometimes written ' I ' , even
when it does not mean 'half' but 'by means of': maglietta f maniche (read
mezze maniche) 'short-sleeved blouse', spedito a d posta (read a mezzo
posta) 'sent by post';
(xii) in some contexts, for instance to indicate prices, in speech abbreviated
forms like milledue, milletre etc, are used, meaning not 1002, 1003 etc., but
1200 (milleduecento),1300 (milletrecento), etc. Obviously one does not use
milleuno for 1100 (millecento);
(xiii) note also constructions with in, like siamo in due 'there are two of us',
vi siete messi in tre 'three of you got together', sono arrivate in quattro 'four
of them arrived', essere in molti 'to be many', essere in pochi 'to be few', in
quanti siete? 'how many are there of you?' etc.; these seem to be limited to
humans, and to suggest a deliberate association of the individuals involved.

(c) Indefinite numerals

The following are used: un paio 'a couple', una decina '(about) ten',
una dozzina 'a dozen' and 'about twelve', una quindicina '(about)
fifteen', una ventina '(about) twenty', etc., una novantina '(about)
ninety', un centinaio '(about) a hundred', due centinaia '(about) two
hundred', un migliaio '(about) a thousand', due migliaia '(about)
two thousand'. They are all constructed with di: ci surd stata or ci
saranno state una ventina di persone 'there must have been about
twenty people'; one can also say ci saranno state un ventipersone, or
ci saranno state sulle venti persone; c'erano alcune centinaia di
 Grammar: An Outline 133
studenti 'there were several hundred students'. Note the difference
between due migliaia di operai 'about two thousand workers' and
duemila operai 'two thousand workers'. These indefinite numerals
are often used in expressions of age (after the age of thirty): t sulla
trentina 'she is about thirty', si avvicina alla quarantina, 'she is
approaching forty'.

16 Verbs
(a) First we set out in full the conjugations of avere 'to have', essere
'to be', and then of comprare 'to buy', credere 'to believe', dormire'to
sleep', representing the three regular conjugations in -are, -ere and
-ire. Some grammars subdivide the -ere verbs into two conjugations
depending on whether the ending is stressed, as in temere, or
unstressed, as in credere, but in this context this subdivision is not
necessary. In the table below, after avere and essere, the endings of
the three conjugations are separated from the stem by a hyphen. As
dictionaries give the infinitive forms for verbs, and in regular infini-
tives the stem is obtained by removing the endings -are (1), -ere (2).
-ire (3a and b),14 this table shows how to conjugate any regular verb
found in a dictionary by adding the relevant endings to the stem.
Irregular verbs are listed at the end of this section.

A vere

Present Future Imperfect Past historic

ho avrb avevo ebbi
hai avrai avevi avesti
ha avrd aveva ebbe
abbiamo avremo avevamo avemmo
avete aurete auevate aveste
hanno avranno avevano ebbero

Perfect Future perfect Pluperfect Past anterior

ho avuto, etc. avrb avuto, etc. avevo auuto, etc. ebbi avuto, etc.

Present Past Present Imperfect

conditional conditional subjunctive subjunctive
aurei avrei avuto, etc. abbia avessi
avresti abbia avessi
134 Italian Language Today
avrebbe abbia avesse
avremmo abbiamo avessimo
avreste abbiare aveste
avrebbero abbiano avessero

Perfect Pluperfect Imperative

subjunctive subjunctive
abbia avuro, avessi avuro, etc. -
etc. abbi (neg. non auere)
abbia
abbiamo
abbiare
abbiano

Present Past Present Past Present

gerund15 gerund participle15 participle infinitive
avendo avendo avuto avente avuto, -a, -i, -e avere

Past infinitive
avere avuro

Essere

Present Future Imperfect Past Perfect Future

historic perfect
sono sarb ero fui sono stato, -a sarb stato, -a
sei sarai eri fosti sei staro, -a etc.
6 sara era fu t? sraro, -a
siamo saremo eravamo fummo siamo srati, -e
siere sarere eravate foste siere stati, -e
sono saranno erano furono sono srati, -e

Pluperfect Past Present Past

anterior conditional conditional
ero sraro, -a fui stato, -a sarei sarei stato, -a
etc. etc. saresri etc.
sarebbe
saremmo
saresre
sarebbero

Present Imperfect Perfect Pluperfect

subjunctive subjunctive subjunctive subjunctive
sia fossi sia srato, -a, etc. fossi stato, -a, etc.
 Grammar: A n Outline 135
sia fossi
sia fosse
siamo fossimo
siate foste
siano fossero

Imperative
-
sii (neg. non essere)
sia
siamo
siate
siano

Present gerund Past gerund Present participle

essendo essendo stato, -a, -i, -e (ente)

Past participle Present infinitive Past infinitive

stato, -a, -i, -e essere essere stato, -a, -i, -e ,

Regular verbs

Present

1 2 3a 3b
compr-o cred -0 dorm-o fin-isc-o
-1 -i -i -kc-i
-a -e -e -kc-e
-iamo -iamo -iamo -iamo
-ate -ete -ite -ire
-an0 -on0 -on0 -kc-ono

Future

1 2 3
compr-erb cred-erb dorm-irb
-erai -erai -irai
-erd -erd -ird
-eremo -eremo -iremo
-erete -erete -irete
-eranno -eranno -iranno
136 Italian Language Today

Imperfect

1 2 3
compr-avo cred-evo dorm-iuo
-avi -evi -ivi
-ava -eva -iva
-avamo -evamo -iuamo
-avate -evate -ivate
-avano -evano -ivano

Past historic

1 2 3
compr-ai cred-ei (-etti) dorm-ii
-asti -esti -isti
-0 -2 (-ette) -i
-ammo -emmo -immo
-aste -este -iste
-arono -erono (-ettero) -iron0

Perfect

1 2 3
ho comprato, etc. ho creduto, etc. ho dormito, etc.

Future perfect

1 2 3
avro comprato, etc, avr0 creduto, etc. avr0 dormito, etc.

Pluperfect

1 2 3
avevo comprato, etc. avevo creduto, etc. aveuo dormito, etc.
 Grammar: A n Outline 137

Past anterior

1 2 3
ebbi comprato, etc. ebbi creduto, etc. ebbi dorrnito, etc.

Present conditional

1 2 3
compr-erei cred-erei dorm-irei
-eresti -ered -ired
-erebbe -erebbe -irebbe
-eremmo -eremmo -irernmo
-ereste -ereste -ireste
-erebbero -erebbero -irebbero

Past conditional

1 2 3
aurei comprato, etc. aurei creduto, etc. aurei dormito, etc.

Present subjunctive

1 2 3a 3b
compr-i cred-a dorm-a fin-isc-a
-1 -a -a -kc-a
-I -a -a -kc-a
-iamo -iamo -iamo -iamo
-iate -iate -iate -iate
-in0 -an0 -an0 -isc-ano

Imperfect subjunctive

1 2 3
compr-assi cred-essi dorm-issi
-assi -essi -issi
-asse -esse -isse
138 Italian Language Today

Perfect Subjunctive

1 2 3
abbia comprato, etc. abbia creduto, etc. abbia dormito, etc.

Pluperfect subjunctive

1 2 3
auessi comprato, etc. avessi creduto, etc. aoessi dormito, etc.

Imperative

-
compr-a (neg. non comprare) cred-i (neg. non credere)
-i -a
-iamo -iamo
-ate -ere
-in0 -an0
3a 3b
- -
dorm-i (neg. non dormire) fin-isc-i (neg. non finire)
-a -kc-a
-iamo -iamo
-ire -ire
-an0 -isc-ano

Present gerund

1 2 3
compr-ando cred-endo dorm-endo

Past gerund
1 2 3
aoendo compr-ato avendo cred-uto auendo dorm-ito
 Grammar: A n Outline 139

Present participle

1 2 3
compr-ante cred-ente dorm-ente (dorm-iente)

Past participle

2 3
cred-uto dorm-ito

Present infinitive

1 2 3
compr-are cred-ere dorm-ire

Past infinitive

1 2 3
avere compr-ato avere cred-uto avere dorm-ito

F o r 3b, past historics in -etri, present participles in -enre, -iente,

see below. Past participles have forms in -0,-a, -i, -elike adjectives.

(b) The following forms are stressed on the root (on which syllable of the
root depends on the individual verb, e.g., abit- [Abit-] 'to live', but invit-
[invit-] 'to invite'): first, second, third persons singular and third person
plural of the present indicative and subjunctive, second person singular of
the imperative (also third persons singular and plural, which are the same as
in the subjunctive), and some infinitives in -ere. In all other cases the stress
is on the ending, and the resulting forms are paroxytones apart from the
following: (i) first, second, third persons singular of the future, first and
third persons singular of the past historic and first singular of the present
conditional, which are oxytones (except for the forms in -ii);16 (ii) third
person plural of the imperfect indicative and subjunctive, of the past
140 Italian Language Today
historic and of the past conditional, and first person plural of the imperfect
subjunctive, which are proparoxytones. When there is -isc- it is always
stressed.

(c) Inchoative verbs. The verbs of the third conjugation which insert
-kc- in the singular and in the third person plural of the present
indicative and subjunctive and in the imperative are traditionally
known as inchoative because in Latin the verb endings -asco, -esco,
-isco indicated the beginning of an action. The label inchoative may
be used even though the infix no longer has this force in Italian.
Common inchoative verbs are agire 'to act', capire 'to understand',
costruire 'to build', ferire 'to wound', finire 'to finish', obbedire 'to
obey', preferire 'to prefer', pulire 'to clean', sparire 'to disappear'.
Common -ire verbs without the infix are aprire 'to open', coprire 'to
cover', dormire 'to sleep', fuggire 'to flee', offrire 'to offer', partire 'to
leave', pentirsi 'to repent', seguire 'to follow', sentire 'to feel', servire
'to serve', soffrire 'to suffer', vestire 'to dress'. Some have both
forms: apparire 'to appear', applaudire 'to applaud', assorbire 'to
absorb', avvertire 'to warn', comparire 'to appear', convertire 'to con-
vert', cucire 'to sew', mentire 'to lie'; but the forms without -isc- are
more common.
(d) Verbs in -iare which in the first person singular of the present
indicative have a stem-final stressed i, like invio 'I send', have -ii
only when the i of the stem is stressed and followed by an ending
beginning with i. Verbs in -iare which in the first person singular of
the present indicative have an unstressed i, like macchio 'I stain',
have a single i throughout, tu macchi, noi macchiamo, etc.
(e) First conjugation verbs in -care and -gare retain throughout the
velar sound at the end of the stem: gioco 'I play', giochi, giocherd;
pago 'I pay', paghi, paghera, etc. Verbs in -ciare, -@are and -sciare
retain the palatal sound: comincio 'I begin', cominci, comincerd;
mangio 'I eat', mangi, mangera; lascio 'I leave', lasci, lascera, etc.
The i of the stem is omitted in the spelling if the ending begins with
e or i. Verbs in - p a r e retain the i when it is part of the ending:
sogniamo 'we dream' is the first person plural of the present indica-
tive and subjunctive, sogniate is the second person plural of the pre-
sent subjunctive, sognate is the second person plural of the present
indicative.
(f) Second conjugation verbs in -cere, -gere, -scere retain the palatal
sound at the end of the stem before e or i, but if the ending begins
 Grammar: A n Outline 141
with a or o the preceding sound is a velar: vinco 'I win', uinci, vin-
cono; leggo 'I read', leggi, leggono; conosco 'I know', conosci, cono-
scono; this also applies to the third conjugation verb fuggire'to flee':
fuggo, fuggi, fuggono. A few -cere verbs retain the palatal sound
throughout: cuocere 'to cook', giacere 'to lie', nuocere 'to harm', pia-
cere 'to please', tacere 'to be silent', and so does the third conjuga-
tion cucire 'to sew'. Cuocere and cucire have a single palatal
throughout (present indicative cuocio, cuoci, cuoce, cuociamo,
cuocete, cuociono; present subjunctive cuocia, cuocia, cuocia,
cuociamo, cuociate, cuociano), whereas the other verbs (and those
forms of fare which have a palatal) alternate single and double
palatals according to the following pattern: present indicative:
piaccio, piaci, piace, piacciamo, piacete, piacciono; present subjunc-
tive: piaccia, piaccia, piaccia, piacciamo, piacciate, piacciano. Note
however that the following forms are equally common for nuocere
and tacere: present indicative nuociamo, taciamo, and present
subjunctive nuociamo, nuociate, taciamo, taciate; giacere may have
the form giaciate in the present subjunctive. Similarly in dovere
'must' and sapere 'to know' we find double consonants in the pre-
sent indicative dobbiamo, sappiamo, and debbono (alongside
deuono), and in the subjunctive debba (alongside deua), dobbiamo,
dobbiate, debbano (alongside deuano), and sappia, sappiamo, sap-
piate, sappiano. Note that for dovere, as for auere, the double con-
sonant is b and the single one is u.

(g) Some verbs (which we list with the irregulars) introduce a gbet-
ween the stem and the ending (in trarre 'to draw' a double gg:
traggo), in the first person singular and in the third person plural of
the present indicative, in the first, second, third persons singular and
third person plural of the present subjunctive, and in the third per-
sons singular and plural of the imperative. The other persons in
these tenses have the stem of the present (which may or may not be
the same as the stem of the infinitive) without the g:porre'to place':
pongo, poni, pone, poniamo, ponete, pongono. A gl at the end of the
stem becomes 1in front of the g: togliere 'to take off': tolgo. The main
verbs which introduce this g are: cogliere 'to pick', dolere 'to ache',
porre 'to place', rimanere 'to remain', salire 'to go up', scegliere 'to
choose', sciogliere 'to melt', tenere 'to hold', togliere 'to take off',
trarre 'to draw', valere 'to be worth', uenire'to come', and their com-
pounds.
142 Italian Language Today
(h) Verbs in -rere and -rire. Owing to the Tuscan development of
[rj]>[j] we have the following present indicatives and subjunctives:
morire 'to die', indicative muoio, muori, muore, muoiamo or
moriamo, morite, muoiono; subjunctive muoia, muoia, muoia,
muoiamo or moriamo, muoiate or moriate, muoiano (for the mov-
able diphthongs see (i) below); parere 'to seem', indicative paio,
pad, pare, paiamo or pariamo, parete, paiono; subjunctive paia,
paia, paia, paiamo or pariamo, paiate or pariate, paiano.

(i) Movable diphthongs. In some present tenses the diphthong ie

alternates with the simple vowel e and the diphthong uo with the
simple vowel o. This has a historical reason in that stressed Latin
short e and short o in a free syllable diphthongized, whereas vowels
in a checked syllable or unstressed vowels did not (see chapter 111,
p. 46); cf. vengo 'I come', voglio 'I want': no diphthong because the
syllable is checked; viene, vuole: with a diphthong because there is a
stressed vowel in a free syllable; uenite, volete: no diphthong
because the vowel is unstressed. In many verbs this distinction has
been eliminated by analogy: nego 'I deny', neghi, nega, neghiamo,
negate, negano; suono 'I play', suoni, suona, suoniamo, suonate,
suonano (the forms soniamo, sonate are disappearing).
This is the present indicative with a movable diphthong of sedere
'to sit': siedo, siedi, siede, sediamo, sedete, siedono. The other forms
with the diphthong are: all persons of the future (siederd, etc.),
conditional (siederei, etc.), the first, second, third persons singular
and third person plural of the present subjunctive (sieda, etc.), and
the second and third persons singular and third person plural of the
imperative (siedi, sieda, siedano). The same applies to its compound
possedere 'to possess', to commuovere 'to move' (emotionally) and
promuovere 'to promote' (but not to muouere 'to move' which, like
suonare 'to ring', has generalized the diphthong). Morire 'to die'
does not have the diphthong in the future and the conditional.
A different pattern is followed by tenere 'to hold'; present indica-
tive: tengo, tieni, tiene, teniamo, tenete, tengono; the other form with
the diphthong is the second person singular of the imperative: tieni.
The same applies to the compounds of tenere (appartenere 'to
belong', astenersi 'to abstain', contenere 'to contain', mantenere 'to
keep', ottenere 'to obtain', ritenere 'to maintain', sostenere 'to
uphold', trattenere 'to withold'), to venire 'to come' and its com-
pounds (avvenire 'to happen', convenire 'to be convenient', interve-
nire 'to intervene', pervenire 'to reach', prevenire 'to prevent', rinve-
 Grammar: A n Outline 143
nire 'to find', svenire 'to faint'), and to potere 'to be able', volere 'to
want', dolere 'to ache', solere 'to be used to'. Any other irregularities
of these verbs are described in other sections.

(j) Past historic in -etti. The alternative forms in the second conjuga-
tion temetti 'I feared' for temei, temette for temt, temettero for
temerono, are avoided if the stem of the verb ends in t: potei 'I was
able' is preferred to potetti.

(k) The second person singular of the Present Subjunctive is

normally accompanied by the personal pronoun: people do not say
vogliono che vada via for vogliono che tu vada via 'they want you to
go away', because without the pronoun the verb would be inter-
preted as being in the first or in the third person. Even with
pronominal verbs, where the form without subject personal pro-
noun would not be ambiguous, vogliono che tu ti penta is used,
rather than vogliono che ti penta 'they want you to repent'.''

(1) For the negative imperative in the second person singular, the
form of the infinitive is used: non mangiare 'do not eat'; but in the
other persons: non mangi 'let him not eat' or 'do not eat' with the lei
form, non mangiamo 'let us not eat', non mangiate 'do not eat' in
the plural, non mangino 'let them not eat' or 'do not eat' with the
loro form. For the position of the pronoun, see chapter V. 9(e)(i).

(m) Present participles in -ente and -iente. Dormire 'to sleep' has
alternative forms domente and dormiente. Other verbs have a pre-
sent participle only in -ente, like fuggente 'fleeing', partente
'leaving', seguente 'following', uscente 'going out'; others have a
form in -iente: esordiente 'starting', nutriente 'nourishing', saliente
'salient', ubbidiente 'obedient', ueniente 'coming'. Some of these
forms are used only as adjectives or nouns. Avere has a rarely used
participle auente, as in gli aventi diritto 'those entitled', and an
alternative form abbiente which is used as an adjective or noun: gli
abbienti 'the well off'.

(n) The auxiliary. As a rule transitives take the auxiliary avere,

intransitives essere. Here is a list of common verbs which take the
auxiliary essere: accadere 'to happen', andare 'to go', arriuare 'to
arrive', bastare 'to be enough', bisognare 'to be necessary', cadere 'to
fall', comparire 'to appear', costare 'to cost', dipendere 'to depend',
144 Italian Language Today
diventare 'to become', entrare 'to enter', essere 'to be', morire 'to
die', nascere 'to be born', parere 'to seem', partire 'to leave', piacere
'to please', restare 'to remain', rimanere 'to remain', riuscire 'to suc-
ceed', scappare 'to escape', sembrare 'to seem', sparire 'to disap-
pear', spiacere 'to displease', stare 'to stay', succedere 'to happen',
uscire 'to go out', venire 'to come'.
Impersonal verbs normally take the auxiliary essere: t capitato, t
success0 'it happened', but impersonal verbs referring to the
weather take either auxiliary: t piovuto or ha piovuto 'it rained', era
nevicato or aveva nevicato 'it had snowed'.
So-called reflexive or pronominal verbs (i.e., those with a refle-
xive pronoun) take the auxiliary essere: mi sono sbagliato 'I made a
mistake', sit stancato'he got tired', sit lavato le mani'he washed his
hands', si sono scritti 'they wrote to each other'. So we have si t
messo la matita in tasca, but ha messo la matita in tasca 'he put the
pencil in his pocket'; si t scritto un appunto but ha scritto un appunto
'he wrote a note'; si sono mangiati la torta but hanno mangiato la
torta 'they ate the cake'.
If a verb taking the auxiliary essere is constructed with dovere
'must', potere 'can', volere 'will', these three verbs in a compound
tense usually take the auxiliary essere: t dovuto partire or ha dovuto
partire 'he had to leave', non 2 potuto arrivare or non ha potuto arri-
vare 'he could not arrive', t voluto venire or ha voluto venire 'he
wanted to come'.
In a construction with verb + infinitive, if the infinitive is a reflex-
ive and the refle'xive pronoun is attached to the main verb (cf.
chapter V. 9(d)), the latter takes the auxiliary essere: si t cominciato
a spostare or ha cominciato a spostarsi 'it started moving' (with a
non-reflexive pronoun the auxiliary, of course, does not change: lo
ha cominciato a spostare or ha cominciato a spostarlo 'he started
moving it'), si t dovuto portare la valigia alla stazione or ha dovuto
portarsi la valigia alla stazione 'he had to take his case to the sta-
tion'; se 13 potuto mangiare or ha potuto mangiarselo'he was able to
eat it'; se n 3 voluto andare or ha voluto andarsene 'he wanted to go
away'. In constructions with a modal + a reflexive infinitive, the
modal tends to take the auxiliary essere only when the reflexive pro-
noun goes with the modal itself: 2 voluto andarsene is avoided.
Note the past infinitive in deve essersi portato la valigia alla
stazione 'he must have taken his case to the station', indicating
probability (si t dovuto portare la valigia alla stazione cannot indi-
cate probability). With non-reflexives too there is the same differ-
 Grammar: A n Outline 145
ence between pub essere partito 'he may have left' and 2 or hapotuto
partire 'he was able to leave'; deve essere sceso 'he must have gone
down' and t or ha dovuto scendere 'he had to go down'.
Some verbs take the auxiliary avere when used (i) transitively and
the auxiliary essere when used (ii) intransitively: aumentare (i) quel
negoziante ha aumentato il prezzo 'that shopkeeper has put up the
price', (ii) gli aranci sono aumentati diprezzo'oranges have gone up
in price'; avanzare (i) ha avanzato un'ipotesi interessante 'he put
forward an interesting hypothesis', (ii) la marea t avanzata fino alle
capanne 'the tide rose as far as the huts'; cessare (i) ha cessato i
versamenti 'he stopped the payments', (ii) il vento t cessato 'the wind
stopped'; cominciare (i) ho cominciato il mio libro ' I have started my
book', (ii) lo spettacolo t cominciato 'the show has begun'; con-
tinuare (i) ha continuato il lavoro 'he went on with his work', (ii) t
continuato il lavoro 'the work went on'; diminuire (i) mi hanno
diminuito lo stipendio 'they have lowered my salary', (ii) la febbre gli
t diminuita 'his temperature has gone down'; esplodere (i) ha esploso
una raffica di mitra 'he fired a volley with his machine gun', (ii) t
esplosa una bomba 'a bomb exploded'; finire (i) hanno finito le
pulizie 'they have finished doing the cleaning', (ii) la commedia t
finita alle dieci 'the play ended at ten'; guarire (i) il dottore l'ha
guarito in tre giorni 'the doctor cured him in three days', (ii) t guarito
due mesi fa 'he recovered two months ago'; invecchiare (i) la
malattia mi ha invecchiato 'the illness aged me', (ii) t invecchiato da
un momento all'altro 'he got old very suddenly'; migliorare (i) ha
migliorato la sua situazione 'he improved his position', (ii) la sua
situazione & migliorata 'his position has improved'; passare (i) mi ha
passato il suo libro 'he passed his book to me', (ii) tpassato un anno
'a year has passed'; salire (i) ha salito le scale 'he went up the stairs',
(ii) t salito in fretta 'he went up in a hurry'; scendere (i) ha sceso le
scale 'he went down the stairs', (ii) t sceso in fretta 'he went down in
a hurry'; seguire (i) ha seguito la ragazza 'he followed the girl', (ii) t
seguito un discorso 'a speech followed'; servire (i) ha servito il partito
'he served the party', (ii) t servito a1 partito 'it was useful to the
party'; sfilare (i) ti ha sfilato il portafoglio dalla tasca 'he slipped
your wallet from your pocket', (ii) sono sfilati in corteo 'they filed
past in a procession'; terminare (i) ha terminato il suo racconto 'he
ended his story', (ii) la guerra t terminata da due anni 'the war ended
two years ago'; vivere (i) ha vissuto dei brutti momenti 'he went
through some b i d moments', (ii) quando t vissuto il Crivelli?'when
did Crivelli live?'.
146 Italian Language Today
Convenire with the meaning 'to agree' takes avere: hanno con-
venuto che era meglio 'they agreed it was better', otherwise it takes
essere: erano convenuti in piazza 'they had gathered in the square',
non gli t convenuto accettare 'it wasn't in his interest to accept'. Cor-
rere 'to run' is found intransitively with both auxiliaries: essere is
used with reference to the direction or goal, as in t corso via 'he ran
away', t corso a casa 'he ran home', but ha corso tanto 'he ran a lot',
ha corso due chilometri 'he ran two kilometres', quando ha corso
deve riposarsi 'when he has been running he has to rest'; with objects
like rischio, pericolo the auxiliary is avere: non abbiamo corso nessun
rischio 'we ran no risk'. Durare with avere indicates durability,
queste scarpe hanno durato molto 'these shoes have lasted a long
time', and with essere duration, la commedia t durata due ore 'the
play lasted two hours'. Mancare with the meaning 'to be lacking', 'to
fail', 'to be missing' takes the auxiliary essere: gli t mancato il
coraggio 'his courage failed him', t mancato all'appello 'he was not
present at roll-call'; with the meaning 'to lack', 'to neglect' it takes
avere: ha mancato di coraggio 'he lacked courage', ha mancato di
parola 'he didn't keep his word', ha mancato ai suoi doveri 'he neg-
lected his duties', ha mancato all'appuntamento 'he missed his
appointment'. Procedere with the meaning 'to progress' takes the
auxiliary essere: t proceduto notevolmente 'he has progressed
considerably'; with the meaning 'to behave' it takes avere: ha pro-
ceduto da persona onesta 'he acted honestly'. Appartenere takes
either auxiliary: questo libro ha or t appartenuto a Ugo 'this book
belonged to Ugo'.

(0) The uses of the imperfect, perfect and past historic will be dis-
cussed in chapter VI. 13. Here are some notes on other tenses.
The present is often used in Italian for imminent action where
English uses the future: resto a casa nelpomeriggio'I'11 stay at home
in the afternoon', vengo subito 'I'll come at once'. When the time is
defined the present may also be used for a future action: parto
domani 'I am leaving tomorrow', fra un anno mi trasferisco a Milano
'in a year's time I shall move to Milan'.
There are usages in which a modal appears in English but not in
Italian: 'from the window you can see the mountains': dalla finestra
si vedono le montagne; this does not apply only to the present: in the
same example we can have 'one could see': si vedevano, 'one will be
able to see': si vedranno.
The future and future perfect are often used to express scepti-
 Grammar: A n Outline 147
cism, possibility or probability: mi dici che 2 intelligence; sard 'you
tell me he is intelligent; maybe'; suonano; sard Ugo 'there is the
bell; it must be Ugo'; hai idea dove siano? - Saranno tornati a casa
'have you any idea where they are? - They have probably gone
home'.
Note also the use of the future in hyperbolic (interrogative or
exclamative) expressions, pronounced with sentence stress on the
verb: sard bello! 'isn't it beautiful?', sard orrendo? 'don't you find it
horrible?'; these forms appear to solicit the assent of the addressee
for the exceptional degree of the quality mentioned.
The past anterior is used in literary Italian as an antecedent to the
past historic, where more colloquial Italian uses the pluperfect as an
antecedent to the perfect after quando, dopo che, appena, etc.:
quando fu arrivato in fondo alla strada rallentb il passo 'when he got
to the end of the street he slowed down', dopo che lo ebbero visto
telefonarono alla polizia 'after they had seen him they rang the
police', appena furono arrivati scrissero a casa 'as soon as they had
arrived they wrote home'. When a habitual action is being described
the pluperfect is used: quando aveva finito di mangiare andava
sempre a riposare 'when he had finished eating he always rested'.
The past participle is normally passive, but in a few cases it may
also have an active value: ammirato may mean 'admiring' as in restai
ammirato '1 was struck with admiration', con aria ammirata 'with an
admiring look'; deciso may be someone 'decided' not someone who
has been 'convinced'; saputo may mean 'knowing': con tono saputo
'with a knowing tone'; bevuto may mean, dialectally or jocularly,
'drunk', as in t un po' bevuto 'he is a bit drunk'.

(p) The present gerund refers to time contemporary to that of the

main clause; the past gerund to time previous to that of the main
clause; the present gerund may however be anterior and not simul-
taneous to a future of the main clause: se ne andb sbattendo laporta
'he went out slamming the door', avendo aspettato due ore gli la-
sciammo wn biglietto 'after waiting two hours we left him a note',
studiando molto quest'estate l'annoprossimopotrai far l'esame'if you
work a lot this summer you can take the exam next year'.
The subject of the gerund is normally the same as that of the main
clause except in cases where a different subject isspecified: essendo
malato l'insegnante la lezione fu sospesa 'as the teacher was ill the
lesson was cancelled', essendo finito il ballo tornarono a casa 'when
the dance was over they went home', avendo scritto due romanzi i
148 Italian Language Today
soldi non gli mancano 'as he has written two novels he is not short of
money', and in the case of proverbs: l'appetito vien mangiando 'the
more you have the more you want'. More commonly however in the
case of different subjects a subordinate clause is found: lo abbiamo
uisto che attraversaua la strada 'we saw him crossing the road'; lo
abbiamo visto attrauersando la strada means 'we saw him as we
crossed the road'; la guardavo mentre scriueva la cartolina 'I
watched her writing the card'; la guardauo scriuendo la cartolina
means 'I watched her as I wrote the card'.
The gerund cannot have the adjectival function of the present
participle: piangendo non mi commuoui 'your crying will not move
me' but il salice piangente 'the weeping willow'; sorridendo ottiene
tutto quello che uuole 'she gets all she wants by smiling' but mi guar-
dava con un'espressione sorridente 'she was looking at me smilingly'.
The gerund may be used with stare as a duration form, although it is
far less common than the equivalent in English: sto mangiando 'I am
eating', staua lauorando quando entrai 'he was working when I came
in', starct facendo la spesa 'she is probably out shopping'. This
construction is not possible with any past tense except the imper-
fect: to 'I have been reading all night' corresponds ho letto tutta la
notte or sono stato tutta la notte a leggere, etc., but not sono stato
leggendo tutta la notte; with this construction the passive too is
avoided and is replaced either by a si construction or by the active:
'the grass is being cut' corresponds not to l'erba sta essendo tagliata
but to si sta tagliando l'erba or stanno tagliando l'erba.
Andare and venire + gerund suggest a repetition of action: ua
dicendo che sei stata licenziata 'he goes round saying you were
sacked', negli ultimi anni t? uenuto pubblicando importanti contributi
sull'alienazione 'in the last few years he has been publishing impor-
tant works on alienation'.

(q) The infinitive can be used as a noun: iavorare stanca 'it's tiring to
work'. It can be used with a variety of values: (i) auerne!'if only one
had plenty!', riuscirci! 'if only one could make it!'; (ii) pensare che
erano qui ieri! 'to think that they were here yesterday'; (iii) scivolare
e rompersi una gamba $ un momento 'it's only too easy to slip and
break one's leg'; (iv) uenire, uiene 'he's coming all right'; it can be
preceded by per: per accettare, accetta 'he's accepting all right'; (v)
che fare? 'what's to be done?', che dire? 'what can one say?'; (vi) i
quattrini? Spenderli! 'money? Spend it!'; (vii) the infinitive can also
have a use close to that of the imperative: circolare! 'pass along
 Grammar: An Outline 149
please', provare per credere 'it has to be tried to be believed'.

(r) Passive form. Transitive verbs can be changed from active to

passive by the use of the auxiliary essere with the past participle, as
follows: Ugo ha corretto le bozze 'Ugo has corrected the proofs', le
bozze sono state corrette da Ugo 'the proofs have been corrected by
Ugo'. The passive is however less commonly used in Italian than in
English, the si construction being preferred: Ada non si t vista is
more common than Ada non t stata vista 'Ada hasn't been seen';
even when one wants to put the object of a verb at the beginning of a
sentence one normally uses an inverted active construction instead
of a passive: gli avanzi li mangerd il gatto rather than gli avanzi
saranno mangiati dal gatto 'the scraps will be eaten by the cat'.
Most commonly the passive is used when the agent is not
expressed: t stato derubato sull'autobus'he was robbed on the bus', t
stato eletto presidente 'he was elected president', t stato ucciso in
battaglia 'he was killed in battle'. The passive is preferred when the
active would make the agent at the beginning of the sentence into
the theme of the statement: purtroppo questo quadro t stato rovinato
dall'umiditct 'unfortunately this picture has been spoilt by damp' is
the normal sentence when we want to talk about the picture,
whereas in purtroppo l'umiditct ha rovinato questo quadro 'unfortu-
nately damp has spoilt this picture' we would be talking primarily
about the damp (see the distinction between theme and rheme in
chapter VI. 1).
In some cases the verbs venire (in its simple tenses) and andare
can replace essere. Venire indicates action: la finestra viene chiusa
'the window is being shut'; la finestra t chiusa is the regular passive
of chiude la finestra, but it is more spontaneously interpreted as
copula + adjective: 'the window is shut'. This also applies to la
finestra era chiusa, but not to la finestra fu chiusa which is inter-
preted as a passive.
Andare is less widely used but it is found with verbs like perdere,
disperdere, smarrire 'to lose': il pacco t andato smarrito 'the parcel
went astray'. Except in these cases, andare introduces an element of
obligation: questo va finito per domani 'this must be finished by
tomorrow', questofilm va visto senz'altro'thisfilm is a must', ua fatto
cosi 'this is how it should be done'. Note also the use of rimanere: t
rimasto ferito nell'incidente 'he was injured in the accident'.
In Italian only the direct object of a verb can become the subject
of a passive construction, so to English sentences like 'he was given
150 Italian Language Today
a present', 'I was taught Sanskrit' correspond gli t stato fatto un
regalo, mi t stato insegnato il sanscrito.
In constructions with fare, lasciare + infinitive, Italian, unlike
English, prefers not to passivize the infinitive: si t lasciato convin-
cere 'he let himself be persuaded', gli dispiaceva essersi lasciato
convincere 'he was sorry he had let himself be persuaded', t stato
fatto visitare da un dottore 'a doctor was called in to see him'.

(s) Irregular verbs We give a list of common irregular verbs pre-

ceded by a few observations.

(i) Irregularities are mostly found in the past historic and past
participle of second conjugation verbs. The verb prendere 'to take'
for instance in the past historic has three 'strong' forms (i.e., forms
with stress on the stem) presi, prese, presero and three 'weak' forms
(i.e., forms with the stress on the ending) prendesti, prendemmo,
prendeste. This alternation of strong and weak forms originated in
the Vulgar Latin development of verbs like nocere where three per-
sons, nbqui, nbquit, nbquerunt kept the velar sounds (Italian nocqui,
nocque, nocquero) and three, noquhti, noqutmus, noqulstis, lost the
pretonic u and therefore palatalized the velar, thus acquiring the
same stem as the infinitive (Italian nocesti, nocemmo, noceste). All
verbs which have a strong past historic retain weak forms in the
second person singular and plural and in the first person plural,
except dare, stare and essere which have strong forms throughout.
The strong past historics mainly go back to three kinds of Latin
perfects: the sigmatic ones, i.e., with an s: accesi 'I lit', decisi 'I
decided', presi 'I took', risi 'I laughed', vinsi 'I won', dissi 'I said',
scossi 'I shook'; the apophonic ones, i.e., with a change in the stem
vowel: feci 'I did' vs. fare, vidi 'I saw' vs. vedere; those in -ui, cf.
nocqui quoted above: giacqui 'I lay', piacqui 'I was liked'; note that
the -u- of Vulgar Latin -ui causes the doubling of the preceding
consonant and it usually falls unless preceded by a velar: caddi 'I
fell'<cadui (Classical Latin cecidi); ebbi 'I had'<habui; ruppi 'I
broke'<rupui (Classical Latin rupi); seppi 'I knew'<sepui (Classical
Latin sapivi); tenni 'I kept'<tenui; venni 'I camel<venui (Classical
Latin ueni); volli 'I wanted'<volui.
Strong past participles can also be sigmatic: acceso 'lit', deciso
'decided', mosso 'moved', preso 'taken', riso 'laughed', scosso
'shaken'; or end in -to: assolto 'absolved', detto 'said', letto 'read',
r i s p t o 'answered', scritto 'written', vinto 'won*, visto 'seen'.
 Grammar: An Outline 151
Other common irregularities are historically caused by the fall of
a vowel (syncope): andrd 'I will go' for anderd, andrei 'I would go'
for anderei; or by syncope and assimilation: verrb 'I will come' for
venirb, pone 'to put' for ponere, terrb 'I will keep' for tenerd, vorrd 'I
will want' for volerd (volerd is in fact the future of volare 'to fly').
In the following list only the irregular forms are given. For tenses
which have the same irregularities throughout and also for past his-
toric~which follow the pattern of strong and weak forms described
above only the first person is given. As the future and conditional
always have the same stem, where they are irregular only the future
is given. The present subjunctive is only given when its form is not
based on the present indicative.
We indicate the first person singular in -go for the present indica-
tive when it is not predictable from the infinitive (the only persons
formed in the same way are the third plural of the present indicative,
and the first, second, third singular and third plural of the present
subjunctive, as stated above in (g)).
Some verbs, like dire 'to say', porre 'to place', use one stem (dir-,
porr-) in the infinitive, future and conditional, and a different stem
(dic-, pon-) in the rest of the conjugation; they are listed under the
infinitive, but the different stem is in each case indicated; they are
all of the second conjugation, so we do not state this in the list.
All irregularities concerning the movable diphthong are dis-
cussed above in (i).

(ii) The following abbreviations are used: PI=present indicative,

F=future, II=imperfect indicative, PH=past historic, PS=present
subjunctive, IS=imperfect subjunctive, I=imperative, PP=past
participle, G=gerund, MD=movable diphthong (see (i) above).

In impersonal verbs the third person instead of the first is given.

When there are alternative forms, the one which appears to us most
advisable for a foreign student to use is given first, and then the
others are added in brackets.

accadere 'to happen', F accadrct, PH accadde

accendere 'to light', PH accesi, PP acceso
accludere 'to enclose', PH acclusi, PP accluso
accogliere 'to welcome', PI accolgo, PH accolsi, PP accolto
accorgersi 'to notice', PH mi accorsi, PP accorto
affliggere 'to afflict', PH afflissi, PP afflitto
152 Italian Language Today
aggiungere 'to add', P H aggiunsi, PP aggiunto
alludere 'to allude', P H allusi, PP alluso
ammettere 'to admit', P H ammisi, PP ammesso
andare 'to go', PI vado, vai, va, andiamo, andate, vanno, F andrd,
PS vada, vada, vada, andiamo, andiate, uadano, I va (vai, va'),
andate
apparire 'to appear', PI appaio (apparisco), P H apparvi (apparii,
apparsi), PP apparso
appartenere 'to belong', PI appartengo, F apparterrd, P H appartenni
(MD)
appendere 'to hang', P H appesi, PP appeso
apprendere 'to learn', P H appresi, PP appreso
aprire 'to open', P H aprii (apersi), PP aperto
assalire 'to assault', PI assalgo (assalisco), P H assalii (assalsi)
assistere 'to assist', PP assistito
assolvere 'to absolve', P H assolsi (assolvei, assolvetti), PP assolto
assumere 'to engage', P H assunsi, PP assunto
attendere 'to wait', P H attesi, PP atteso
avere 'to have', PI ho, hai, ha, abbiamo, avete, hanno, F aurb, P H
ebbi, PS abbia, I abbi
avvenire 'to happen', PI avuiene, avvengono P H avvenne ( M D )
avvolgere 'to wrap', P H auvolsi, PP avvolto
bere 'to drink' (stem beu-), F berrb, P H bevvi
cadere 'to fall', F cadrd, P H caddi
chiedere 'to ask', P H chiesi, PP chiesto
chiudere 'to shut', P H chiusi, PP chiuso
cogliere 'to pick', PI colgo, P H colsi, PP colto
comparire 'to appear', PI compaio (comparisco), P H comparvi (com-
parii, comparsi), PP comparso
comprendere 'to understand', P H compresi, PP compreso
concedere 'to concede', P H concessi (concedei, concederti), PP con-
cesso (conceduto)
concludere 'to conclude', P H conclusi, PP concluso
condurre 'to lead' (stem conduc-), P H condussi, PP condotto
confondere 'to confuse', P H confusi, PP confuso
conoscere 'to know', P H conobbi
convincere 'to convince', P H convinsi, PP convinto
coprire 'to cover', P H coprii (copersi), PP coperto
correggere 'to correct', P H corressi, PP corretto
correre 'to run', P H corsi, PP corso
costringere 'to force', P H costrinsi, PP costretto
 Grammar: A n Outline 153
crescere 'to grow', P H crebbi
cuocere 'to cook', P H cossi, PP cotto
dare 'to give', PI do, dai, dci, diamo, date, danno, F darb, P H diedior
detti, desti, diede or dette, demmo, deste, diedero or dettero, PS dia,
IS dessi, I db (dai, da')
decidere 'to decide', P H decisi, PP deciso
dedurre 'to deduce' (stem deduc-), P H dedussi, PP dedotto
deludere 'to disappoint', P H delusi, PP deluso
descriuere 'to describe', P H descrissi, PP descritto
difendere 'to defend', P H difesi, PP difeso
diffondere 'to spread', P H diffusi, PP diffuso
dipendere 'to depend', P H dipesi, PP dipeso
dipingere 'to paint', P H dipinsi, PP dipinto
dire 'to say' (stem dic-), P H dissi, I dt (di'), PP detto
dirigere 'to direct', P H diressi, PP diretto
discutere 'to discuss', P H discussi, PP discusso
disfare 'to undo' (stem disfac-), PI disfo or disfaccio, F disferb or
disfarb, I1 disfauo or disfacevo, P H disfeci, PP disfatto, G dis-
facendo or disfando
dispiacere 'to displease', PI dispiaccio, P H dispiacqui
dispone 'to dispose' (stem dispon-), PI dispongo, P H disposi, PP
disposto
distendere 'to stretch out', P H distesi, PP disteso
disdnguere 'to distinguish', P H distinsi, PP distinto
distrarre 'to distract' (stem dimra-), PI distraggo, P H distrassi, PP
distratto
distruggere 'to destroy', P H distrussi, PP distrutto
diuidere 'to divide', P H divisi, PP diuiso
dolere 'to ache', PI dolgo, doliamo and dogliamo, PS dolga, doliamo
and dogliamo, doliate and dogliate, dolgano, F dorrd, PH dolsi
douere 'must', PI deuo (debbo), devi, deue, dobbiamo, douete, deuono
(debbono), F dourb
eleggere 'to elect', P H elessi, PP eletto
emergere 'to emerge', P H emersi, PP emerso
erigere 'to erect', P H eressi, PP eretto
escludere 'to exclude', P H esclusi, PP escluso
esigere 'to demand', PP esatto
esistere 'to exist', PP esistito
espellere 'to expel', P H espulsi, PP espulso
esplodere 'to explode', P H esplosi, PP esploso
esporre 'to expound' (stem espon-), PI espongo, P H esposi, PP
esposto
154 Italian Language Today
esprimere 'to express', P H espressi, PP espresso
essere 'to be', PI sono, sei, 2, siamo, siete, sono, F sarb, I1 ero, en, era,
eravamo, eravate, erano, P H fui, fosti, fu, fummo, foste, furono, PS
sia,,IS fossi, I sii, PP stato
estendere 'to extend', P H estesi, PP esteso
estinguere 'to extinguish', P H estinsi, PP estinto
estrarre 'to extract' (stem estra-), PI estraggo, P H estrassi, PP estratto
fare 'to make' (stem fac-), PI faccio, fai, fa, facciamo, fate, fanno,
P H feci, I fa (fai, fa'), PP fatto
fingere 'to pretend', P H finsi, PP finto
fondere 'to melt', P H fusi, PP fuso
friggere 'to fry', P H frissi, PP fritto
fungere 'to act', P H funsi, PP funto
giacere 'to lie', PI giaccio, P H giacqui
giungere 'to arrive', P H giunsi, PP giunto
godere 'to enjoy', F godrb
illudere 'to delude', P H illusi, PP illuso
immergere 'to immerse', P H immersi, PP immerso
imporre 'to impose' (stem impon-), PI impongo, P H imposi, PP
impost0
imprimere 'to impress', P H impressi, PP impress0
incidere 'to engrave', P H incisi, PP inciso
indurre 'to induce' (stem induc-), P H indussi, PP indotto
infliggere 'to inflict', P H inflissi, PP inflitto
infrangere 'to break', P H infransi, PP infranto
insistere 'to insist', PP insistito
intendere 'to mean', P H intesi, PP inteso
interrompere 'to interrupt', P H interruppi, PP interrotto
introdurre 'to introduce' (stem introduc-), P H introdussi, PP intro-
dotto
invadere 'to invade', P H invasi, PP invaso
iscrivere 'to enroll', P H iscrissi, PP iscritto
leggere 'to read', P H lessi, PP letto
mettere 'to put', P H misi, PP messo
mordere 'to bite', P H morsi, PP morso
morire 'to die', PI muoio, PP morto ( M D )
muovere 'to move', P H mossi, PP mosso ( M D )
nascere 'to be born', P H nacqui, PP nato
nascondere 'to hide', P H nascosi, PP nascosto
occorrere 'to be necessary', P H occorse, PP occorso
offendere 'to offend',P H offesi, PP offeso
 Grammar: A n Outline 155
offrire 'to offer',P H offrii (offersi), PP offerto
oppone 'to oppose' (stem oppon-), PI oppongo, P H opposi, PP
opposto
ottenere 'to obtain', PI ottengo, F ottend, P H ottenni ( M D )
parere 'to seem', PI paio, F parrd, P H parvi (parsi), PP parso
perdere 'to lose', P H persi (perdei, perdetti), PP perso (perduto)
permettere 'to allow', P H permisi, PP permesso
persuadere 'to persuade', P H persuasi, PP persuaso
piacere 'to please', PI piaccio, P H piacqui
piangere 'to cry', P H piansi, PP pianto
piovere 'to rain', P H piovve
porgere 'to hand', P H porsi, PP porto
pone 'to place' (stem pon-), PI pongo, P H posi, PP posto
potere 'to be able', PI posso, puoi, pub, possiamo, potete, possono, F
potrd ( M D )
prendere 'to take', P H presi, PP preso
pretendere 'to demand', P H pretesi, PP preteso
prevedere 'to foresee', F prevedrd, P H previdi, PP previsto
produrre 'to produce' (stem produc-), P H produssi, PP prodotto
promettere 'to promise', P H promisi, PP promesso
proporre 'to propose' (stem propon-), PI propongo, P H proposi, PP
proposto
proteggere 'to protect', P H protessi, PP protetto
pungere 'to prick', P H punsi, PP punto
raccogliere 'to gather', PI raccolgo, P H raccolsi, PP raccolto
radere 'to shave', P H rasi, PP raso
raggiungere 'to reach', P H raggiunsi, PP raggiunto
reggere 'to bear', P H ressi, PP retto
rendere 'to return', P H resi, PP reso
resistere 'to resist', PP resistito
respingere 'to repel', P H respinsi, PP respinto
ridere 'to laugh', P H risi, PP riso
ridurre 'to reduce' (stem riduc-), P H ridussi, PP ridotto
riflettere 'to reflect' ( o f light), P H riflessi, PP riflesso (but the verb is
regular when the meaning is 'to consider')
rimanere 'to remain', PI rimango, F rimarrd, P H rimasi, PP rimasto
rincrescere 'to grieve', P H rincrebbe
risolvere 'to resolve', P H risolsi, PP risolto
rispondere 'to answer', P H risposi, PP risposto
ritenere 'to believe', F riterrd, P H ritenni ( M D )
riuscire 'to succeed', PI riesco, riesci, riesce, riusciamo, riuscite,
riescono
156 Italian Language Today
rivolgere ' t o turn', P H rivolsi, PP rivolto
rompere 'to break', P H ruppi, PP rotto
salire 'to go up', PI salgo
sapere 'to know', PI so, sai, sa, sappiamo, sapete, sanno, F saprd, P H
seppi, PS sappia, I sappi
scalfire 'to scratch', PP scalfitto and scalfito
scegliere 'to choose', PI scelgo, P H scelsi, PP scelto
scendere 'to go down', P H scesi, PP sceso
sciogliere 'to melt', PI sciolgo, P H sciolsi, PP sciolto
scommettere 'to bet', P H scommisi, PP scommesso
sconfiggere 'to defeat', P H sconfissi, PP sconfitto
scoprire 'to discover', P H scoprii (scopersi), PP scoperto
scorgere 'to catch sight of', P H scorsi, PP scorto
scrivere 'to write', P H scrissi, PP scritto
scuotere 'to shake', P H scossi, PP scosso ( M D )
seppellire 'to bury', PP seppellito or sepolto
smettere 'to stop', P H smisi, PP smesso
soddisfare 'to satisfy' (stem soddisfac-), PI soddisfo, F soddisferd,
P H soddisfeci, PP soddisfatto
soffrire 'to suffer', P H soffrii (soffersi), PP sofferto
sorgere 'to rise', P H sorsi, YP sorto
sorprendere 'to surprise', P H sorpresi, PP sorpreso
sorridere 'to smile', P H sorrisi, PP sorriso
sospendere 'to suspend', P H sospesi, PP sospeso
sostenere 'to maintain', PI sostengo, F sosterrd, P H sostenni ( M D )
spandere 'to spill', PP spanto
spargere 'to scatter', P H sparsi, PP sparso
spegnere 'to put out', P H spensi, PP spento
spendere 'to spend', P H spesi, PP speso
spiacere 'to displease', PI spiaccio, P H spiacqui
spingere 'to push', P H spinsi, PP spinto
stare 'to stay', PI sto, stai, sta, stiamo, state, stanno, F stard, P H stetti,
stesti, stette, stemmo, steste, stettero, PS stia, IS stessi, I sta
(stai, sta')
stendere 'to spread out', P H stesi, PP steso
stringere 'to tighten', P H strinsi, PP stretto
succedere 'to happen', P H successe, PP success0 (but the verb is
regular when the meaning is 'to succeed' (to a position))
sup,mrre 'to suppose' (stem suppon-), PI suppongo, P H supposi, PP
supposto
svenire 'to faint', PI svengo, P H svenni ( M D )
 Grammar: An Outline 157
svolgere 'to unfold', PH svolsi, PP svolto
tacere 'to be silent', PI taccio, PH tacqui
tendere 'to stretch', PH tesi, PP teso
tenere 'to hold', PI tengo, F terrd, PH tenni (MD)
tingere 'to dye', PH tinsi, PP tinto
togliere 'to take off', PI tolgo, PH tolsi, PP tolto
tradurre 'to translate' (stem traduc-), PH tradussi, PP tradotto
trarre 'to draw' (stem tra-), PI traggo, PH trassi, PP tratto
trascorrere 'to spend time', PH trascorsi, PP trascorso
uccidere 'to kill', PH uccisi, PP ucciso
udire 'to hear', PI odo, odi, ode, udiamo, udite, odono, F udird (udrd)
ungere 'to grease', PH unsi, PP unto
uscire 'to go out', PI esco, esci, esce, usciamo, uscite, escono
valere 'to be worth', PI valgo, F varrd, PH valsi, PP valso
vedere 'to see', F vedrd, PH vidi, PP visto (veduto)
venire 'to come', PI vengo, F verrd, PH venni (MD)
vincere 'to win', PH vinsi, PP vinto
vivere 'to live', F vivrd, PH vissi, PP vissuto
volere 'to want', PI voglio, vuoi, vuole, vogliamo, volete, vogliono, F
vorrd, PH volli (MD)
volgere 'to turn', PH volsi, PP volto
(iii) Defective verbs. These are verbs which do not have a full
conjugation. Although some of them are not common, it may be of
interest to have a list of the main ones. We give examples for the
forms which are most frequently used. Brackets are used for rare
infinitives.
(consumere) 'to consume': the only existing forms are the PP con-
sunto and three persons of the PH, consunsi, consunse, consun-
sero; era consunto dalle sofferenze 'he was wasted by suffering'.
delinquere 'to commit an offence': only used in the infinitive, as in
associazione a delinquere 'conspiracy to commit a crime'; delin-
quente 'criminal' is used as noun and adjective.
divergere 'to diverge': no PP, no compound tenses; le loro opinioni
divergevano radicalmente 'their opinions were radically
opposed'.
esimere 'to exempt': no PP, no compound tenses; non si esime mai
dai suoi doveri 'he never shirks his duties'.
(lucere) 'to shine': no PP, no compound tenses; lucevano le stelle
'the stars were shining'.
prudere 'to itch': no PP, no compound tenses; gliprudeva il naso 'his
nose was itching'.
158 Italian Language Today
solere 'to be used to': n o F, conditional, PP, present participle
(MD); PI soglio, sogliono (but one may also hear solgo,
solgono), PS soglia, sogliano (but one may also hear solga,
solgano), sogliamo, sogliate; for the missing tenses esser solito is
used; come soleva dire Ugo 'as Ugo used to say'.
stridere 'to creak': no PP, no compound tenses; bisogna ungere quei
cardini perch2 stridono 'we must oil those hinges because they are
creaking'.
urgere 'to urge': n o PH, PP, compound tenses; the present participle
urgente is very common as an adjective; urge la tuapresenza (tele-
graphic style) 'your presence urgently required'.
vertere 'to be about': n o PH, PP, compound tenses; su cosa verte la
questione? 'what is the question about?'.
vigere 'to be in force': no PH, PP, compound tenses; qui vigono
severe leggi fiscali 'here strict tax laws are in force'.

Notes
' The use of northern Italian phonology in the teaching of Italian as a
foreign language has been advocated with strong arguments by BRESSAN, D.,
in International Review of Applied Linguistics, 7, 1969, pp. 1-10. On our
proposal see LEPSCHY, G., in Studi Italiani di Linguistica Teorica e Applicata,
4 , 1975, pp. 201-209 (also in LEPSCHY, G . , Saggi di linguistics Italians,
Bologna, 1978, chapter 9).
But see now BERTINETTO, P.M.,Strutture prosodiche dell'italiano, Firenze,
1981; MAROTTA,G . , Modelli e misure ritmiche: la durata vocalica in italiano,
Bologna, 1985
Microbi, plural of microbio, was pronounced with the stress on the
antepenultimate, in place of the expected one on the penultimate, and on
this proparoxytonic microbi, a new singular microbo, also proparoxytonic,
was formed.
Note that traditionally the cluster [stj] is not supposed to exist in Italian,
and cannot be rendered by Italian spelling. But b y adding the prefix [s] to
words beginning with [t$] one gets [st$], and words such as sceroellato
'scatterbrained', scentrato 'off-centre' for which dictionaries give an initial
[$I are often pronounced with [stJ].A word like sciabattare 'to shuffle' (not
given by standard dictionaries, but used in colloquial Italian instead of
ciabattare and acciabattare; a literary example: la sentivamo sciabattare e
brontolare per i corridoi 'we heard her shuffling and grumbling along the
corridors', from CALVINO, I., 'Le notti dell' UNPA' in I racconti, Turin,
1958, p. 304) would be comic with [$I instead of [st$]. In words such as
sgelare 'to unfreeze', disgiungere 'to separate' the cluster [zdg] is accepted
(intervocalically purists also suggest [33]).
 G r a m m a r : A n Outline 159
Purists accept as correct, although less common, a pronunciation with [i]
o r [j] (depending o n the syllable boundary) for words in which the i goes
back to a Latin vowel (as in scienza 'science', religione 'religion', socierct
'society') o r is morphologically justified (mangiamo 'we eat', usciate 'that
you go out') but not in words like mangio 'I eat', uscio 'door', ragione
'reason'. A pronunciation without [i] o r [j] between the palatal consonant
and the following vowel is however more common.
See DE MAURO, T., et a l . , 'Grammatiche a confront0 delle congiunzioni
italiane', in La grammatica. Aspetti teorici e didattici (SLI, 13), Rome,
1979, pp. 261-316.
' See the Raccomandazioni per un uso non sessista della lingua italiana,
prepared by A . Sabatini for the Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri,
Rome, 1986; and LEPSCHY, G., 'Sexism and the Italian Language', The
Italianist, 7, 1987, pp. 158-169.
See NAPOLI,D. J . , 'A Global Agreement Phenomenon', in Linguistic
Inquiry, 6, 1975, pp. 413-435.
This point is made by BURZIO, L . , Italian Syntax. A Government-Binding
Approach, Dordrecht, 1986, who calls 'ergatives' these intransitive verbs
requiring auxiliary essere, and suggests that their apparent subjects may
undergo ne cliticization because they are in fact direct objects (as indicated
by their normal position after the verb), but linked to the subject position
and assigned a nominative case, which explains their agreement with the
verb.
lo This limitation to appositive clauses was suggested to us by G . Cinque.
" This observation was suggested to us by G. Cinque; see his article
"'Mica"', in Annali della Facolta di Lettere e Filosofia (University of
Padua), 1 , 1976, pp. 101-112.
l2Cf. on this point the note by G . FOLENA in Lingua Nostra, 19, 1958, pp.
120-121.
l 3 See, for instance, 'intorno agli anni '30' in RENZI,L . , Introduzione alla
filologia romanza, Bologna, 1976, p. 87, apparently with reference to the
years around 1930; 'risalendo per un attimo agli anni Settanta', and 'negli
anni Settanta', in an article by M. Corti, in Alfabeta, 5, 1979, p. 4, with
reference to books of 1967 and 1970.
l4 The -ire verbs in 3b are inchoatives: cf, point (c) below.
IS The terms 'gerund' and 'present participle' are used here to correspond to
the Italian terms gerundio and participiopresente, with reference t o thes-ndo
and -nte forms respectively.
l 6 The -ii ending is bisyllabic and stressed on the first vowel; the forms with
the monosyllabic endings -ai, -ei are considered oxytones.
160 Italian Language Today
l7 This does not mean that examples without the pronoun are not to be
found: 'Perch&abbia paura, se ora pensi davvero di disfarti di me, cosi', and
'Ma sono - tu vedi - formalita. Figuri morta: bisogna che riappaja viva',
PIRANDELLO, L . , 'Come tu mi vuoi' [1930], in Maschere nude, I, Milan, 1978,
pp. 938 and 959; 'Mi sembra che ti illuda', P . Rovatti, in Alfabeta, 7, 1979,
p. 20.
 Sixteen Points of Syntax

1 Some notes on word order

This section opens with some points on intonation, a topic which
must be taken into account in the discussion on word order, as their
functions are closely linked. The following three notions will be
used: '
Tonality: the subdivision of the sentence into tone groups,
treated as minimal intonational units, each corresponding to one
information unit. Tone group boundaries are marked in transcrip-
tion by double slants: 11.
Tonicity: the positioning of the tonic nucleus (or tonic) within the
tone group; a tonic corresponds to the focus of information in the
tone group. It is marked in transcription by small capitals.
Tones:-the meaningful pitch movements centred on the tonic. A
primary system of five tones can be used: 1 falling, 2 rising, 3 level-
rising, 4 falling-rising, 5 rising-falling. They are marked in
transcription by digits at the beginning of the tone group. They can
for instance be contrasted in one-word sentences like lui 'him', no
'no', sicuro 'sure', etc.: N1 LUIII (statement); I12 L U ~ (question),
I I13
LuIII (non committal answer, suspensive or enumerative), I14 L U ~ I
(emphatically suspensive, or, with more marked fall, unbelieving
question), 1 5 LUIII (committal answer, or contradiction, or exclama-
tion).
A sentence like non lo fa per te 'he is not doing it for you' can have
different meanings, depending on its intonation, such as for
example: //I non lo fa per TE// (he is doing it, but not for you); 111
non lo FA//^ per TE// (it is because of you that he is not doing it); //1
non lo FA per tell (he won't do it for you).
In a sentence one can normally distinguish two parts: in the first
the speaker establishes what he is talking about and in the second he
says something about it. We shall call the former 'theme' and the
162 Italian Language Today
latter 'rheme'; their order is always theme + rheme.
The tonic element is the part of the sentence which carries 'new'
information (the information focus); the rest is 'given', i.e., pro-
vided by what has already been said or by the situational context.
The unmarked order (i.e., the one which is most normal, the one
which can be expected in ordinary circumstances) is given + new.
In many languages (among them Italian) the unmarked order of
the elements of a sentence is subject + predicate. Consequently it is
normal in Italian for the subject to be thematic (what the speaker
talks about) and given (what is assumed to be accessible to the
hearer from the context), and for the predicate to be rhematic (what
the speaker says about the subject) and new (what the hearer is not
expected to know already).
In other terms, an unmarked sentence in Italian usually answers
the implicit question 'what did the subject do?', and not 'who did the
action expressed by the predicate ?' For instance, in
(a) N 1 Ugo si t ADDORMENTATO~~ 'Ugo fell asleep', the speaker talks
about Ugo (theme), who is supposed to be recognized by the hearer
(given), and says that he fell asleep (rheme), which the hearer is
supposed not to know (new).
But it is not necessary for the subject to be thematic and given,
and for the predicate to be rhematic and new. It is possible to make
the subject rhematic and the predicate thematic, by inverting their
order, as in
(b) 111 si t addormentato UGO//,where the speaker talks about
someone falling asleep, and says it was Ugo who fell asleep; 'falling
asleep' is given in the context, and 'Ugo' is new.
It is also possible for the theme to carry the tonic, so that it
becomes new while the rheme becomes given. Thus one obtains
(c) N1 UGO si t addormentato//, where the speaker talks about Ugo
(theme) and says what he did (rheme), assuming that it was a ques-
tion of people falling asleep (given), but that the hearer did not
know it was Ugo who fell asleep (new);
(d) I11 si t ADDORMENTATO Ugoll, where the speaker talks about
someone falling asleep (theme), and says who fell asleep (rheme),
assuming that Ugo is present in the hearer's mind (given), but that
the hearer did not know that he had fallen asleep (new).

In comparison with unmarked (a), we can say that (b) is marked

 Word Order 163
with regard to theme, (c) is marked with regard to tonic, and (d) is
marked both with regard to theme and to tonic.
The four sentences may be taken to correspond to the following
implicit questions: (a) 'what did Ugo do?', (b) 'who fell asleep?', (c)
'who was it who fell asleep?', (d) 'what was it that Ugo did?'.
Taking sentence (a) as unmarked, we find that to answer question
(b) Italian leaves the rheme tonic and changes the order of subject
and predicate, while English makes the theme tonic and leaves the
order of subject and predicate unchanged: the English counterpart
to (b) is ' Ugo fell asleep'. To make it clear in (c) that Ugo is not only
new but also thematic, Italian makes the theme tonic, while English
may keep (b) 'Ugofell asleep', or change the sentence to 'it was Ugo
who fell asleep'. To answer question (d) Italian both changes the
order of subject and predicate and makes the theme tonic (i.e.,
makes s i t addormentato both thematic and new), while English puts
an emphatic stress on the rheme: 'Ugo fell asleep', or, to make the
predicate thematic, uses the colloquial 'he fell asleep, Ugo did'.
Different devices are preferred to produce marked sentences:
changes in word order for Italian, and changes in intonation for
English. What ,corresponds to sentences like 'I did this', ' Ugo told
me' etc. (with marked tonicity and the usual order, i.e.,
subject +predicate) is in Italian l'ho fatto io, me l'ha detto Ugo, etc.
(with marked order, i.e., predicate + subject and the usual tonicity).
But these sentences differ because in English it is the subject which
is thematic, while in Italian it is the predicate.
In Italian it is normal with some verbs for the predicate to be
thematic: for instance, whereas with partire 'to leave' the unmarked
order is Ugo t partito 'Ugo has left', with arriuare 'to arrive' it is t
arrivato Ugo 'Ugo has arrived'. In fact the normal interpretation of
Ugo 2 arrivato is that he has arrived somewhere else: we are not
being told who has arrived here, but what Ugo did, i.e., that he
reached his destination. In Fellini's La strada Anthony Quinn is
angered when Giulietta Masina tamely says that he has got there:
Zampanb t arriuato I11 Zampanb e ARRIVATO//, instead of
announcing, to the accompaniment of her drum, that it is the great
man himself who has arrived: t arriuato Zampanb //3 & ARRIVATO//~
ZAMPAN~//.
In a sentence like il gatto ha mangiato la carne 'the cat ate the
meat' the unmarked order is subject + verb + object, and the
unmarked intonation consists of one tone group with tonic on the
object. It is possible to mark the subject or the verb as new by
164 Italian Language Today
making them tonic. The subject is here thematic. The traditional
way to make the object thematic, in the literary language, is to use
the passive: la carne t stata mangiata dal gatto. But in colloquial
language a different construction is preferred, with the object at the
beginning, in a tone group of its own with tone 3 (suspensive) 'as for
the meat . . .', or tone 4 (contrastive) 'as for the meat . . .', and the
verb in the active with an unstressed object pronoun: la carne, l'ha
mangiata il gatto. Note that when the verb with the object pronoun
(l'ha mangiata) and the object (la carne) are in the same tone
group, the latter cannot be tonic.
We can also find other parts of the sentence, including the sub-
ject, in this initial, thematic tone group; 114 il GAT TO//^ ha mangiato
la CARNE//, N4 il GAT TO//^ l'ha MANGIATA la carnet/, 114 ha mangiato la
CARNE//~ il GATTO// etC.
It would seem that the following combinations are possible, with
different values according to the changes in theme and tonic ('S' is
used for 'subject', 'V' for 'verb', '0' for 'object', comma for tone
group boundary, and bold print for the tonic):
with il gatto ha mangiato la carne: S,VO S,VO
s,ov 0,sv sv,o o v , s v 0 , s V0,S
and, when there is an unstressed object pronoun with the verb
(e.g., la carne, l'ha mangiata il gatto): S , W S,O V 0,sV 0,SV
0,vs 0 , m SV,O SV,O v s , o VS,O OV,S v0,s.
If S, V, and 0 are assigned one tone group each, all combinations
are possible, but their meanings become ambiguous. It is fairly
common on the literary level to find the construction V, S, 0 where
the subject is felt to be inserted, as a parenthesis, in the VO clause:
scrisse, il nostro autore, diversi romanzi 'our author wrote several
novels' N3 SCRISSE~/~ il nostro AUTOREII~ diversi ROMANZI//. These
are, however, rhetorical devices not normally employed in col-
loquial Italian.

2 The use of the article2

(a) Definite and indefinite articles with common nouns
(i) In Italian as in English the definite article indicates something
known (given), and the indefinite something new. Accordingly the
definite article is used with a noun indicating an object already
referred to: (Ecco un libro e un disco. Quale uuoi?) Prendo il disco
 The Article 165
'(Here is a book and a record. Which do you want?) I'll take the
record'; and the indefinite article is used with a noun indicating an
object that has not yet been referred to: ho comprato un disco ' I
bought a record'. This distinction can also be linked with word
order: (A) allora la ragazza entrb 'then the girl came in' and (B)
allora entrd una ragazza 'then in came a girl' are the unmarked
expressions with themelgiven first followed by rhemelnew (see
chapter VI. 1); in (A) we are being told what the girl did, the
presupposition being that she had already been mentioned; in (B)
we are being told who came in, the presupposition being that we did
not expect anyone in particular to enter; in (C) allora una ragazza
entrb 'then a girl came in' the presupposition would be that she, as
yet unidentified, is one of several people already mentioned, and in
(D) allora entrd la ragazza 'then in came the girl' the presupposition
would be that we were expecting someone to come in, either that
girl or someone else who was not a girl.
(ii) The definite article is used with a noun that is defined by an
adjective or a relative clause, and also when it has the value of a
demonstrative: prendo la biro uerde 'I'll take the green biro', imp-
lying that there is only one green biro, vs. prendo una biro uerde 'I'll
take a green biro', implying that there are several biros but not
necessarily more than one green one; compra il libro che hai visto ieri
'buy the bobk which 'you saw yesterday', where the fact that the
book is known is indicated by the relative clause, vs. ecco un libro che
mi ha daro ieri Ugo 'here is a book that Ugo gave me yesterday',
where the book is presented as a new element by un: the relative
clause is not enough to make it into a known element but just adds
more information; torderd entro la settimana 'he will come back
some time this week'.
(iii) The definite article is used with nouns referring to objects of
which only one exists: il sole 'the sun', la luna 'the moon', la terra
'the earth' (but un sole, una luna in an astronomical context).
(iv) The definite article is used with reference to habitual action, or
action expected in the context, whereas the indefinite refers to a
rarer or unexpected event: prendi l'autobus o prendi un taxi? 'are
you going by bus or taking a taxi?'; legge il giornale 'he is reading the
paper' vs. legge un giornale 'he is reading a paper'; prendiamo il t2?
'shall we have tea?' vs. prendiamo un tk? 'shall we have a cup of
tea?'.
166 Italian Language Today
(v) The definite article is used with a noun indicating a species or
category: l'elefante t una bestia paziente 'the elephant is a patient
animal'. The indefinite article may also refer to the species, as rep-
resented by any one individual: un elefante non dimentica niente 'an
elephant never forgets'.
(vi) The definite article (and sometimes the indefinite) can be used
to turn words belonging to other parts of speech into nouns: ilpercht
e il percome 'the why and the wherefore', senza nt un perch2 n t un
percome 'without a why or a wherefore'.
In (iv), (v), and (vi) the definite article seems to be more widely
used in Italian than in English:
(iv-A) fa il bagno 'he is having a bath', fa la doccia 'he is having a
shower', fa i compiti 'he is doing his homework', t pronta la cola-
zione? 'is breakfast ready?', ci vuole il passaporto 'one needs a pass-
port', ha la macchina 'he has a car', ha la televisione a colori 'he has
colour television', ha la tosse 'he has a cough'. With illnesses the
definite article in Italian may correspond to the indefinite article, as
above, or to no article in English: ha l'influenza 'he has flu', ha il
morbillo 'he has measles', but ha un or il raffreddore 'he has a cold'.
(v-A) l'uomo t traditore 'men are traitors', la donna t mobile
'woman is fickle', 'Casa dello Studente' 'Student Hostel'; the
singular with a definite article to indicate a category (lo studente, lo
straniero 'the foreigner', l'italiano 'the Italian') often has a more
rhetorical or bureaucratic connotation than the singular with an
indefinite article or the plural: lo straniero t soggetto alle leggi del
paese in cui vive 'foreigners are subject to the laws of the country in
which they live' vs. uno straniero and gli stranieri, etc.
(vi-A) il bello e if brutto 'beauty and ugliness', il leggere e lo scrivere
'reading and writing', il nero gli sta bene 'black suits him'.
(vii) (A) Whilst both in English and in Italian singular countable
nouns normally have to be accompanied by an article (il, or un libro
t sul tavolo 'the (or: a) book is on the table', vedo il or un libro'I see
the (or: a) book'), uncountable nouns in English do not have to take
the article even when they are at the beginning of a sentence,
whereas in Italian they do (as the examples in (v-A) and (vi-A)
reveal; in those groups the nouns are uncountable: with those
meanings they do not have plurals). This covers many of the cases
normally listed in grammars as differing from English in the use of
 The Article 167
the article.
The definite article is hence used in Italian with
(B) nouns indicating matter: l'argento 'silver', il fuoco 'fire', l'os-
sigeno 'oxygen7,il carbone t un minerale 'coal is a mineral', il carbone
non mi piace ' I don't like coal', but cf. voglio carbone 'I want coal' vs.
voglio il carbone 'I want the coal'. One can say neve, ne abbiamo
avuta tanta 'we had a lot of snow', carbone, non ne vogliono 'they
don't want coal', where ne indicates that the initial noun is used for
di neve, di carbone.
(C) abstract nouns: l'arte 'art', la virtu 'virtue', la pazienza 'pati-
ence', la bellezza 'beauty'; la pittura non gli interessa 'painting does
not interest him', non capisce la musica 'he does not understand
music', but 2 una bellezza 'it's a beauty', where the concept has
become concrete.
(D) names of languages: studia il russo 'he is studying Russian',
insegno l'italiano 'I teach Italian', capisco il francese 'I understand
French'; but when a recognized subject of study (and this applies to
any subject, not just a language) is being referred to, the article may
be omitted: studia russo all'uniuersitil 'he is studying Russian at the
university', insegna tedesco in un liceo 'he teaches German in a
lycte'. The article is also omitted after parlare with reference to a
speech act: l'ho sentito parlare inglese 'I heard him speak English',
but not with reference to someone's ability to speak a language: non
sa parlare 1 'italiano 'he cannot speak Italian' (nonsaparlare italiano
is also possible, but refers to someone's performance in individual
speech acts rather than to his competence). The article is not used in
certain constructions with di and in: non sa una parola di francese
'he does not know a word of French', scrivo in tedesco 'I am writing
in German' but: le difficoltil del francese 'the difficulties of French',
si 2 immerso nel tedesco 'he has plunged into German'.

(viii) The definite article is used in Italian with numerical expres-

sions
(A) of time: sono le due 'it is two o'clock', alle undici 'at eleven
o'clock', nel 1956 'in 1956', and with other expressions of time: il
mese scorso 'last month', il sabato va dalla nonna 'on Saturdays he
goes to his grandmother's' vs. t! venuto a trovarci sabato 'he came to
see us on Saturday'.
(B) of age: surd fra i trenta e i quaranta 'he is probably between
thirty and forty', surd sulla cinquantina 'he must be about fifty' (cf.
chapter V. 15 (F)), but ha vent'anni, ha trent'anni, etc. 'he is twenty',
168 Italian Language Today
'he is thirty', etc.
(C) with a distributive value: 100 lire l'uno '100 lire each', 200 lire
a1 or il chilo '200 lire a kilo', 100 chilometri all'ora or l'ora '100 km
an hour', 50 lire laparola '50 lire a word', but not after per: 50 lireper
parola '50 lire a word' (no article also in 50 lire a parola '50 lire a
word', 50 lire a testa, or a persona '50 lire each').
(D) with a collective sense: entrambi (or ambedue, tutti e due) i
ragazzi 'both boys', entrambe (or ambedue, tutte e due) le ragazze
'both girls', tutre e tre le ragazze 'all three girls'.
(E) with percentages: una riduzione del 33% 'a 33 per cent
reduction', ne ho preso il12% 'I took 12 per cent', but ne ho preso
12 su 100 'I took 12 out of 100'.
(ix) The definite article is used with possessive adjectives: la nostra
casa 'our house'; for the use of article and possessive with nouns
denoting family relationships cf. chapter V. 9.
(x) The definite article is used with reference to something
belonging to the subject. In this context English uses a possessive
adjective.
(A) It is used with parts of the body: scuote la testa 'he shakes his
head', arriccia il naso 'he wrinkles his nose' (cf. ha il naso lungo 'he
has a long nose', but ha un naso da calmucco 'he has a nose like a
Kalmuck' [i.e., flat], because it is a type of nose), si dipinge le unghie
'she paints her nails', devo farmi tagliare i capelli ' I must have my
hair cut', but muove una mano, un piede 'he moves his hand, his
foot' with the indefinite article because it is one out of two: cf.
muove le mani, i piedi 'he moves his hands, his feet'.
(B) It is used with possessions: mi presti la penna?'would you lend
me your pen?', hai la borsa aperta 'your bag is open', ho dimenticato
il portamonete 'I forgot my purse', si mette la cravatta 'he is putting
on his tie' vs. si metre una cravatta 'he is putting on a tie' (see above
(a)(iv>).
(C) It is used with relatives: ha il padre inglese e la madre russa 'his
father is English and his mother is Russian', 2 arrivato lo zio 'our (or:
your, etc.) uncle has arrived'.

(b) Omission of article with common nouns

(i) Plural nouns are often used without an article, even those which
in the singular have to take one: ha pesche? 'do you have peaches?'
 The Article 169
(which differs from both ha lepesche?'have you got the peaches?',
plural of la pesca indicating a notion already mentioned, and ha
delle pesche? 'have you any peaches?', plural of una pesca indicating
a new notion), ci sono scoiattoli in questo paese? 'are there squirrels
in this country?', abbiamo uova incasa?'have we got any eggs in the
house?', ci vogliono donne in gamba per questo 'you need able
women for this', dovete comprare libri?'have you got to buy books?',
non fare storie, scherzi, sciocchezze, etc. 'do not make a fuss, play
tricks, do anything silly', etc.
(ii) Nouns in a negative sentence are often used without an article,
whereas they would take one in a corresponding positive sentence:
non c'erano libri sul tavolo 'there were no books on the table' corres-
ponds to the positive c'erano dei libri sul tavolo, while non c'erano dei
libri sul tavolo is not the negative but the denial of the preceding
sentence, i.e., the former just states that there were no books,
whereas the latter implies that someone sugge'sted there were, and
states that on the contrary there were not. More rarely even the
singular of a countable noun may be used without an article in a
negative sentence: non c'era anima viva 'there was not a soul', non
c'2 avvenimento su cui lui non metta bocca 'he has his say about
zverything' .
(iii) Uncountable nouns (or nouns which in the context do not go
Into the plural), may be used without an article unless they occupy
first place in the sentence (cf. above (a)(vii)(A)): c 3 latte (burro,
formaggio) 'there is milk (butter, cheese)', abbiamo avuto pioggia
(neve, grandine) 'we had rain (snow, hail)', cercar casa (lavoro) 'to
,ook for a house (for work)', prender moglie (marito) 'to take a wife
(a husband)', sentir compassione (tenerezza) 'to feel compassion
:tenderness)', far pena (pieth) 'to be pathetic (pitiful)', far piacere
(dispiacere) 'to make one pleased (sorry)', prender paura 'to take
'right', prender sonno 'to fall asleep', gli vien male (sonno) 'he feels
faint (sleepy)', sentir caldo (freddo) 'to feel hot (cold)', aver caldo
(freddo, sonno, fame, sere, paura) 'to be hot (cold, sleepy, hungry,
:hirsty, afraid)', aver bisogno 'to need', aver ma1 di testa (ma1 di
lenti, ma1 di gola) 'to have a headache (toothache, a sore throat)'.
Note: ha comprato latte (invece di birra) 'he bought milk (instead
>f beer)', ha comprato il latte 'he bought the milk' (cf. above
:a)(iv)); sta cercando lavoro 'he is looking for work', ha trovato
'avoro'he has found work', ha trovato un lavoro'he has found a job';
sento caldo 'I feel hot', sento il caldo ' I feel the heat', il caldo mi dd
170 Italian Language Today
fastidio 'heat bothers me', fa caldo 'it is hot', fa un caldo . . . 'it's so
hot'; mi fapiacereLI'mpleased', mi fa unpiacere . . . 'I'm so pleased';
mi vien rabbia solo a pensarci 'the mere thought makes me angry',
mi t venuta una rabbia . . . 'I got so angry'.
(iv) No article is used after prepositions in many (A) noun comple-
ments, (B) verb complements. As this would seem to depend on the
individual expression, we limit ourselves to listing some examples:
(A) una specie di casa 'a kind of house', un vestito di sera 'a silk
dress', un litro di latte 'a litre of milk', un uomo di valore 'a man of
worth', un bicchiere di cristallo 'a cut glass tumbler', un bicchiere di
vino 'a glass of wine', carte da gioco 'playing cards', camera da letto
'bedroom', sala da pranzo 'dining room', vestito da sera 'evening
dress', camicia da notte 'night dress'; for constructions like un
diavolo d 'uomo 'a devil of a man', questo straccio di vestito 'this rag of
a dress' cf. chapter VI. 9(c).
(B) t in cima 'he is at the top', in fondo 'at the bottom', in acqua 'in
the water', in montagna 'in the mountains', in cittd 'in town', in casa,
a casa 'at home', a casa sua 'in his own home', in cucina 'in the
kitchen'; va in treno 'he goes by train', in aereo 'by plane', in mac-
china 'by car', a teatro, but a1 cinema 'to the theatre, to the cinema';
sta senza cappello, but con il cappello 'he is wearing no hat, a hat'; t
in pigiama 'he is in his pyjamas', t in costume da bagno 'he is wearing
a bathing costume'; si comporta con sicurezza 'he behaves confi-
dently', con giudizio 'sensibly', con coraggio 'bravely'; lo fard con
piacere 'I'll do it with pleasure'; fallo con tuo comodo 'do it at your
convenience'; lo scrivo a mod0 mio ' I write it my own way'.
Note that da una parte . . . dall'altra corresponds to the English
'on the one hand. . . on the other', but whereas in English the second
element can be used on its own: 'on the other hand . . .', in Italian
one has in this case to say d 'altraparte . . . and not dall'altraparte . . .
Expressions for playing games also come under this category: gio-
care a mosca cieca 'to play blind man's buff', a rimpiattino 'hide and
seek', a palla or alla palla 'ball', a ping pong 'ping-pong', a tennis
'tennis', a domino 'dominoes', a poker 'poker', a dama 'draughts', a
scacchi 'chess', but a calcio and a1 calcio, a1 pallone 'football'.
(v) The article may be omitted in nominal predicates:
(A) If a nominal predicate is without an article it describes the sub-
ject in the same way as an adjective would: Ada t pianista 'Ada is a
pianist' (by profession); if it is with an indefinite article it gives the
category to which the subject belongs: Ada t una pianista 'Ada is a
 The Article 171
pianist' (belongs to the category of pianists); if it is with the definite
article it identifies the subject in the context: Ada 2 lapianista 'Ada
is the pianist'.
(B) When the predicate follows verbs of choosing, nominating,
electing, etc., no article is used: fu eletto deputato 'he became an
MP', lo hanno proclamato presidente 'they proclaimed him presi-
dent'.
(C) When the predicate is a noun in apposition, there may be no
article: ~ a d d a(1')
, autore del Pasticciaccio 'Gadda, the author of
the Pasticciaccio', Felice Brusasorzi, (il) pittore veronese 'Felice
Brusasorzi, the Veronese painter'. There is a tendency to use the
article when the apposition is considered sufficient for identifica-
: ~ Cinque, il linguista veneziano, we are being reminded,
t i ~ n in
while in Cinque, linguista ueneziano, we are being informed that he
is a Venetian linguist. Cinque, il linguista veneziano corresponds to
'the Venetian linguist Cinque', while Cinque, linguista veneziano
corresponds to 'a Venetian linguist, Cinque'. This explains why the
apposition is normally without an article when it is directly relevant
to what is being said: Cinque, linguista veneziano, non si occupa di
dialetti veneti corresponds to 'Cinque', (although he is) a Venetian
linguist, does not work on Venetian dialects'.
(vi) In lists the article need not be used: ha preso bicchiere, libro,
scarpe e lampada 'he took glass, book, shoes and lamp'. Otherwise,
when two'or more coordinated nouns are not felt to constitute a list,
the article is usually repeated: ha preso i fiori e l'ornbrello 'he took
the flowers and his umbrella', but it may be omitted if the objects
are felt to be habitually linked: hopreso carta e rnatita 'I took paper
and pencil', ho preso impermeabile e ombrello ' I took my raincoat
and umbrella', ho preso libri e riviste 'I took books and magazines'.
If the presence of the article is required by a following specifica-
tion, the article may nevertheless be omitted in the plural with the
second and subsequent nouns if they have the same gender as the
first: i libri e giornali che hanno portato 'the books and newspapers
that they brought', but il libro e la riuista che hannoportato'the book
and the magazine that they brought'.
Note that il segretario e tesoriere della societd 'the secretary and
treasurer of the society' refers to one person only, whilst il segretario
e il tesoriere della societd 'the secretary and the treasurer of the soc-
iety' refers to two separate people (unless the context indicates
otherwise).
172 Italian Language Today
(vii) The article is often omitted for brevity in telegrams and
advertisements: confermo mio arriuoper inaugurazione corso is short
for confermo il mio arriuoper l'inaugurazione del corso ' I confirm my
arrival for the opening of the course'; also in proverbs: cosa fatta
capo ha 'what is done is done', paese che uai usanza che troui 'when
in Rome do as the Romans do', gallina uecchia fa buon brodo
'experience counts'; and in expressions which are created to be brief
or striking, such as titles of books, periodicals, etc.: Guerra e pace
'War and Peace', Rinascita.
(viii) In comparative expressions there is a distinction between
comparative, with no article, and superlative, with the definite
article, as we have seen in chapter V. 7.
(ix) No article is used in vocatives and exclamations: scusi, signore
'excuse me, sir', ehi, ragazzo 'hey there, boy', peccato! 'pity!', che
peccato! 'what a pity!', porco! 'pig!', che porco! 'what a swine!'.

(c) Note on the sequence of articles

In a group consisting of noun + complement, various combinations
of definite and indefinite and no article are found: (i) il proprietario
dell'albergo 'the hotel proprietor', (ii) il proprietario di un albergo
'the proprietor of a hotel', (iii) il proprietario d'albergo 'a hotel prop-
rietor' (generic), 'hotel proprietors', (iv) un proprietario di un
albergo 'a hotel proprietor, a proprietor of a hotel', (v) un pro-
prietario dell'albergo'one of the proprietors of the hotel', (vi) unpro-
prietario d'albergo 'a hotel proprietor'.
In normal circumstances the types represented by (i) and (vi) are
the most commonly used, they are the unmarked expressions; they
show a correspondence between the definite article in the first part
and the definite article in the second, and between the indefinite in
the first and no article in the second. Another example is dammi il
mazzo delle carte 'give me the pack of cards', but, buying in a shop,
mi dia un mazzo di carte 'could I have a pack of cards?'. In il mazzo
di carte che t nel cassetto 'the pack of cards which is in the drawer' it
is not necessary to have delle, because the identifying element after
il is represented by the relative clause.

(d) Use of the definite article with proper names

(i) The article is not normally used with first names: chiamo Ugo'I'll
 The Article 173
call Ugo', arriva Ada 'Ada is coming', but in familiar language the
article is frequently used with feminine names: ho visto 1'Ada 'I have
seen Ada', and more rarely with masculine names: dov3 I'Ugo?
'where is Ugo?'. With famous figures who are known by their first
names, and with names from classical antiquity, the article is never
used: Dante, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Aristotele, Cicerone. If these
names are used with an article they refer to the person's work, or, in
the case of writers, to a volume of their work: miprestiil tuo Virgilio?
'would you lend me your Virgil?', hai visto il Raffaello di quel
museo? 'did you see the Raphael in that museum?'.
The article must be used when a name is accompanied by an
adjective or a restrictive relative clause: ho visto la povera Ada 'I
saw poor Ada', non pareva pili I'Ugo che conosciamo 'he no longer
seemed the Ugo we knew'.
(ii) With surnames the use of the article is optional in referring to
men: ho visto Zanco or ho visto lo Zanco 'I saw Zanco', but it is often
used if the figure is well-known: il Manzoniparlava milanese 'Man-
zoni spoke Milanese'; (it would seem to be rarely used with names
of musicians: un 'opera di Verdi, di Mozart, di Vivaldi 'a work (or: an
opera) by Verdi, Mozart, Vivaldi'). It is not used with very famous
modern figures: Picasso rather than il Picasso. Some authors follow
the convention of never using the article with the name of a living
person.
If a woman is referred to only by her surname, the article is
normally used: la Corti, but Maria Corti (or also la Maria Corti;
whereas if a man is referred to, the article with name and surname,
as in il Mario Baratto, implies greater familiarity). Some feminists
object to the use of the article with women's surnames, feeling that
they ought not to be distinguished from men's surnames (but there
is in any case the difference in grammatical agreement with
adjectives and past participles). As for men's surnames, usage is
very complex and varied, but as the article is never actually
compulsory the safest solution for foreign learners is not to use it.
When a nickname or an adjective from a place-name is used as a
surname, the article is optional: (il) Tintoretto, (il) Veronese.
As with first names, the article must be used when a surname is
accompanied by ap adjective or a restrictive clause.
(iii) No article is used with titles such as don, donna, frate (fra): Don
Abbondio, Fra Cristoforo; with Santo, San: San Giorgio ( i l San
Giorgio di Carpaccio refers to a painting), and with ordinals after
174 Italian Language Today
names: Papa Giovanni XXIII.
With other titles the article is used, both with surnames: il pro-
fessor Rossi, il dottor Bruni, il signor Marchi, l'ingegner Zanco (note
the fall of -e before the proper name) and with first names: la si-
gnorina Anna, la signora Bianca, except when used in direct
address: buon giorno dottor Bruni, which is in keeping with all voca-
tives. It is common to use these titles on their own without names
both with the third person and as vocatives: cosa prende la signora?
'what is the lady having?', cosa ne pensa, ingegnere? 'what do you
think about it, (literally) engineer?:.
In the plural the article with a surname indicates the whole
family: gli Sforza; in the feminine it refers to the female members of
the family, often of the same generation. It may also indicate, as in
English, 'people like - ': dove sono i Tiziano e i Tintoretto di oggi?
'where are the Titians and Tintorettos of today?'.
Note that with name and surname the surname normally comes
second: Gianni Scarabello, not Scarabello Gianni. It comes first in
bureaucratic communications and alphabetical lists. In other
circumstances the sequence surname + name is considered to be
uneducated and as such is often used in literature for stylistic
characterization. When introducing oneself or identifying oneself
over the phone, often only the surname is given. In official docu-
ments paternity used to be indicated with the name of the father
preceded by di, or if the father was dead by di fu, del fu, or just fu:
Ada Brarnbilla di Ugo, or (del)fu Ugo.Fu (preceded by the definite
article) can be used with the value of 'late', as in Pirandello's novel I1
fu Mattia Pascal. Married women may use both their maiden name
and their married name: there is no fixed order. When the married
name comes second it may be preceded, in documents, by in (or
more rarely nei): Ada Brarnbilla in Biffi; also Ada Biffi nata Brarn-
billa. If a married woman prefers to use her maiden name she would
still be called signora rather than signorina: la signorina Brarnbilla
after marrying il signor Biffi becomes la signora Biffi, or la signora
Brarnbilla, unlike the English custom of calling her Miss Brambilla
or Mrs. Biffi.

(e) Use of the article with place-names

(i) The definite article is used with names of mountains, seas,
oceans, rivers, and lakes: il Cemino 'the Matterhorn', le Ande
 The Article 175
'the Andes', il Mediterraneo 'the Mediterranean', il Pacifico 'the
Pacific', il Tevere 'the Tiber', il Garda 'lake Garda'.
(ii) It is also used with regions, countries, continents, large islands
(which are presumably considered like countries or regions) and
groups of islands: il Piemonre, I'Iralia, I'Europa, la Sardegna, le
Antilie.
After the preposition in these names do not take an article:
andare in Australia 'to go to Australia', vivere in Corsica 'to live in
Corsica', but with masculine names in the singular the article is
optional: vado nel or in Belgio 'I am going to Belgium', vivo nel or in
Canadd 'I live in Canada'.
As for Italian regions, there would seem to be no clear rule: the
article tends not to be used with feminine singular names (in
Calabria, in Lombardia, in Toscana), and to be used with masculine
or plural names (nel V e n e t ~negli
, ~ Abruzzi, nelle Marche), but: in
Piemonte, and in or nel Trentino.
After the preposition di feminine place-names do not take the
article when di indicates a national characterization or a de iure
relationship, but they do take it when di indicates a more neutral
geographical characterization or a de facto relationship: i vini di
Francia 'French wines' are a national category appreciated by
connoisseurs, whereas i vini della Francia 'the wines of France' are
the wines produced in France; i laghi d'ltalia 'Italian lakes' belong
to the country's 'image', whereas i laghi dell'ltalia 'the lakes of
Italy' is a more objective geographical designation; il re di Grecia
'the king of Greece' is not i f re della Grecia if he is in exile. With
other values of di the article is retained: la Russia t piu grande della
Polonia 'Russia is bigger than Poland'.
With masculine names however the article is used after di: il go-
vemo del Cile 'the government of Chile', i cittadini del Portogallo
'the citizens of Portugal', le cittd del Brasile 'the cities of Brazil'; (but
the article is not used in Alessandria d'Egitto nor in the idiom
d'Egitto, expressing derogatory disbelief, as in ha un impegno. -Ma
che impegno d'Egitto! 'he has an engagement. - What engagement,
my foot!').
With a qualified name, or plural name, or a name that has a fixed
attribute the article is normally used after in and di: viaggiare negli
Stati Uniti 'to travel in the United States', il govern0 dell'unione
Sovietica 'the government of the Soviet Union', vivere nell'ltalia
settentrionale (but also in Italia settentrionale) 'to live in northern
Italy'.
176 Italian Language Today
With prepositions other than in and di the article is used: passare
per I'Austria 'to cross Austria', tornare dalla Spagna 'to return from
Spain'.
(iii) No article is used with names of towns and small islands
(perhaps considered like towns): Torino 'Turin', Venezia 'Venice',
Livorno 'Leghorn', Ischia, Capri, Malta (also Cuba, Cipro 'Cyprus'
in spite of their size), unless they are qualified: la bella Firenze
'beautiful Florence', la Firenze di uent'anni fa 'Florence of twenty
years ago', or the article forms part of the name: L'Aquila, L a
Spezia, L'Aia 'The Hague'. In this case two articles are avoided:
l'orgogliosa Spezia 'proud La Spezia', la (or La) Spezia di vent'anni
fa 'La Spezia of twenty years ago'. With preposition + article in
spelling one may find di L a Spezia (perhaps preferable), de La
Spezia, della Spezia. With the names of football teams adjectival
forms tend to be used in the feminine: la Fiorentina, la Triestina, la
Internazionale (Inter); teams using the name of a town are usually
masculine: il Torino, il Milan (stressed on the first syllable, from
the old-fashioned hypercorrect pronunciation of Milan in the
English designation originally adopted 'Milan Football Club'), if
Napoli, il Cagliari, etc., but note La Roma, la Lazio, and, with
different formatives, 1'Atalanta (feminine), la Spal, la Juventus.
(iv) The article may or may not be used with names of avenues,
streets or squares: (il) corso Italia sbocca in piazza Gramsci 'corso
Italia leads into piazza Gramsci'; generally no article is used after
prepositions: passare per Corso Italia 'to go along Corso Italia' (but
passeggiare per il Corso 'to stroll up and down the avenue'), sta in uia
Giuseppe Verdi 'he lives in via Giuseppe Verdi', andiamo in Piazza
San Marco 'let's go to St Mark's Square' (and also andiamo in
Piazza); with palazzo the article is omitted if a family name follows:
c'incontriamo a Palazzo Pitti? 'shall we meet at Palazzo Pitti?', hai
uisitato Palazzo Doria? 'have you visited Palazzo Doria?', but it is
used if an adjective or a complement follows: dov'k il Palazzo
Ducale? 'where is the Doge's Palace?', ecco il Palazzo della
Ragione 'here is the Palazzo della Ragione'.

3 Evaluative suffixes
Italian is particularly rich in suffixes which can be attached to nouns
and adjectives. In Italian grammars these suffixes are traditionally
 Suffixes 177
subdivided into four groups: diminutivi, accrescitivi, vezzeggiatiui,
and peggiorativi or spregiativi, roughly with the value of 'small',
'large', 'nice', and 'nasty' respectively. In practice it is difficult to
attribute one or more of these values to a particular suffix, as the
effect is influenced by the word which is modified, for example
poverello from povero 'poor' is normally diminutivo and vezzeg-
giativo, whereas miserello from misero 'wretched' is diminutivo and
peggiorativo, or by the context: for example alberello may be
diminutivo and vezzeggiativo 'a nice little tree', or diminutivo and
peggiorativo 'a stunted little tree'. Note that the augmentative may
change an adjective (Ugo t simpatico 'Ugo is nice') into a noun
(Ugo 3 un simpaticone 'Ugo is a pleasant fellow'; the superlative of
the adjective would be simpaticissimo).
These suffixes sometimes express none of the above set of values
but simply the emotive involvement of the speaker, for example
vestitino (from vestito 'dress'), cenetta (from cena 'supper'), mam-
mina (from mamma 'mother'), zietta (from zia 'aunt').
In time the force of the suffix may be lost, and so the word
becomes neutral: cucchiaino 'teaspoon', figliolo 'son', scarponi
'boots', violoncello 'cello'; in this respect one is reminded of the
familiar Late Latin into Italian development of words like genu -
ginocchio 'knee', auris - orecchia 'ear', avis - uccello 'bird', soror -
sorella 'sister', frater - fratello 'brother' which takes place through
the expressive use of the diminutive suffixes as in genuculum,
auriculam, etc.
Many suffixes are productive, that is, can be attached to a wide
number of words as the need arises, creating perfectly acceptable
forms often not documented in dictionaries. However this
mechanism does not work indiscriminately and some combinations
of nouns or adjectives + suffix seem to be excluded. As no satisfac-
tory account exists of how this pairing mechanism functions, we
shall limit ourselves to giving a list of suffixes (which does not aim at
being complete). The list is not subdivided into the four categories
mentioned above, because so many suffixes do not fit them, but is
ordered alphabetically with examples and approximate translations
or with explanations from which the force of the suffix emerges. We
have put a t by the most common suffixes, and have put in brackets
those which are least productive. Wherever possible we give
examples of both nouns and adjectives. The suffixes we list are
stressed on the penultimate syllable, except for -ercolo, -iciattolo,
-ognolo, -onzolo, -ottolo, -ucolo, -uncolo, -upola which are stressed
178 Italian Language Today
on the antepenultimate. In -accio, -iccio, -occio, -uccio the stress is
on the vowel preceding the cc (the following i is there only to indi-
cate the palatal sound of the preceding consonant).

-acchione: furbacchione 'crafty so-and-so', mattacchione 'joker'

-acchiotto: lupacchiotto 'wolf cub', orsacchiotto 'bear cub'; fessac-
chiotto 'a bit of a fool'
t-accio: ragazzaccio 'rough boy', topaccio 'great big rat', vitaccia
'rotten life'; golosaccio 'greedy fellow', (-accio, -occio, -uccio also
have phonologically different forms -azzo, -0220, -uzzo, but are
not freely interchangeable with them)
-astro: giovinastro 'young lout', poetastro 'poetaster'; furbastro
'crafty', rossastro 'reddish'
(-atto): cerbiatto 'fawn', lupatto 'wolf cub', orsatto 'bear cub'
-azzo: amorazzo 'love affair' (pejorative)
-ello: paesello 'little village'; cattiuello 'little rascal'
(-ercolo): libercolo 'booklet'
-erello:fatterello 'incident', fuocherello 'little fire'; scioccherello 'silly
little thing'
t-etto: libretto 'little book', ometto 'little man'; furbetto 'cunning little
thing'
-iccio: attaccaticcio 'sticky', malaticcio 'sickly', rossiccio 'reddish'
-icciolo: porticciolo 'small port', stradicciola 'lane'
-icello: botticella 'cask', campicello 'plot of land', fiumicello 'stream',
pianticella 'small plant', solicello 'weak sun', venticello 'breeze';
grandicello 'big', 'growing up' (of children)
-iciattolo: febbriciattola 'low fever', mostriciattolo 'little horror',
omiciattolo 'stunted little man'
-icino: corpicino 'slight figure', cuoricino 'little heart'
(-igno): asprigno 'sourish'
t-ino: piedino 'little foot'; bellino 'pretty' (feminine nouns in
acquiring this suffix may become masculine in gender: donna
'woman', donnino 'a grown up little girl' vs. donnina 'a little
woman'; penna 'pen', pennino 'nib' vs. pennina 'a little pen'; the
reverse may happen: palazzo 'building, palace', palazzina 'villa'
vs. palazzino (rarer) 'small palace')
-occio: bamboccio 'plump child, doll', fantoccio 'puppet'; belloccio
'quite attractive' (in a plump sort of way), grassoccio 'plump'
-0gnolo: amarognolo 'slightly bitter', verdognolo 'greenish'
-01ino: cagnolino 'little dog', pesciolino 'small fish', topolino 'little
mouse'; verdolino 'greenish'
 Suffixes 179
-(u)olo: montagnola 'hillock', notiziola 'small piece of information',
poesiola 'little poem', faccenduola 'small job', ragazzuolo 'young
boy'
-ona: bisteccona 'large steak'; grassona (adjective and noun) 'fat
(woman)'
t -one: librone 'big book'; simpaticone 'an easy-going hearty person'
(this suffix normally changes the gender of feminine nouns to
which it is affixed: donna 'woman', donnone 'large woman' (less
frequently donnona), barba 'beard', barbone 'tramp', 'big beard'
(with the latter meaning, also barbona), cassa 'box', cassone
'chest', febbre 'temperature', febbrone 'high temperature', faccia
'face', faccione 'big face' (less frequently facciona), forca 'pitch
fork', 'gallows', forcone 'pitch fork', scala 'stairs', scalone'monu-
mental staircase', strada 'road', stradone 'main country road')
(-onzolo): mediconzolo 'second rate doctor', pretonzolo 'unpleasant
little priest' or 'unctuous person'
-otto: aquilotto 'young eagle', leprotto 'levret', ragazzotto 'sturdy
boy', anzianotto 'elderly', bassotto 'rather short', 'dachshund'.
(-ottolo): viottolo 'lane'
(-0220): predicozzo 'little sermon'
(-scello): arbuscello 'sapling', ramoscello 'twig'
t-uccio: cappelluccio'(cheap) little hat'; caruccio'rather expensive',
'pet', deboluccio 'rather weak'
-ucolo: paesucolo 'little village', poetucolo 'second rate poet', scrit-
torucolo 'hack writer'
(-uncolo): ladruncolo 'petty thief', omuncolo 'dwarfish man'
(-upola): casupola 'hut'
(-uzzo): avvocatuzzo 'undistinguished little lawyer', pietruzza 'little
pebble'

It is useful to note the following points:

(a) One may find a suffix used as an independent word: 2 propric
accio? or t? proprio accio accio? 'is it really bad?'

(b) Words in -one, -ona acquire -c- before a suffix: bastone 'stick',
bastoncino 'little stick, rod', cannone 'cannon', cannoncino 'little
cannon', furgone 'van', furgoncino 'small van', leone 'lion', leoncino
'lion cub', persona 'person', personcina 'slight figure'. Similarly
camion 'lorry', camioncino 'van', paltb 'coat', paltoncino 'little coat'.
There is a60 modification of the stem in other cases: cane 'dog',
180 Italian Language Today
cagnolino, cagnetto 'little dog', cagnaccio 'nasty big dog', cittd
'town', cittadina 'small town'.

(c) Suffixes may combine with each other (but again not all
combinations are possible). Some of the suffixes listed above are,
from a diachronic point of view, combinations (e.g., -acchione). We
now give some examples of suffixes which are synchronically felt to
be combined:
-acchione + -ello: furbacchioncello 'crafty creature'
-accio + -one: libraccione 'great big book', omaccione 'hulking
fellow'
-ere110 + -ino: fuocherellino 'little fire'
-etto+ -accio: cagnettaccio 'nasty little dog'
-etto+ -ino: librettino 'little book', omettino 'little man'
-one + -ino: cartoncino 'small card', cordoncino 'thin cord', scarpon-
cini 'climbing boots' (mostly when -one is no longer felt as an
augmentative suffix)
-otto + -ino: leprottino 'levret'

(d) Adverbs may sometimes be modified by suffixes: bene 'well',

benino 'quite well', benone 'very well' (cf. benissimo 'very well');
male 'badly', malino, maluccio 'rather badly', malaccio, limited to
expressions like non C'I? malaccio 'not too bad' (cf. malissimo 'very
badly'); presto 'early', prestino 'rather early' (cf. prestissimo 'very
early'); tardi'late', tarduccio 'rather late' (cf. tardissimo'very late').

(e) Verbs too may be modified by certain suffixes (such as -acchiare,

-erellare, -icchiare, -occhiare, -ortare, -ucchiare, -ucolare, -uzzare)
usually indicating repetition of the action on a smaller or inferior
scale: baciare 'to kiss', sbaciucchiare 'to kiss repeatedly', 'to slobber
over', bruciare 'to burn', bruciacchiare 'to scorch', cantare 'to sing',
canterellare, canticchiare 'to hum, to sing to oneself', dormire 'to
sleep', dormicchiare 'to snooze', fischiare 'to whistle', fischierellare,
fischiettare 'to whistle cheerfully', girare 'to go around', girellare 'to
mooch about', gironzolare 'to wander around', 'to hover about',
lavorare 'to work', lavoricchiare 'to do a bit of work', leggere 'to
read', leggiucchiare 'to read half-heartedly', mangiare 'to eat',
mangiucchiare 'to nibble', parlare 'to speak', parlucchiare, parlottare
'to chatter', piangere 'to cry', piagnucolare 'to whine', ridere 'to
laugh', ridacchiare 'to cackle', rubare 'to steal', rubacchiare 'to
 Suffixes 181
pilfer', scrivere 'to write', scribacchiare, scrivucchiare 'to scribble',
sgranare 'to shell' (peas), 'to tell' (one's rosary), sgranocchiare 'to
crunch', sputare 'to spit', sputacchiare 'to splutter', studiare 'to
study', studiacchiare 'to study half-heartedly', tagliare 'to cut',
tagliuzzare 'to chop up', vivere 'to live', vivacchiare 'to rub along',
volare 'to fly', swlazzare 'to flutter'.

(f) Personal names can also be modified by suffixe~;sometimes the

modified name becomes a name in its own right and the suffix loses
all emotive value, in other cases the suffix may be used sporadically
and so retain its expressiveness. Suffixation in this case is often con-
nected with hypocoristic shortening (cf. English 'William', 'Bill',
'Billy'; 'Robert', 'Bob', 'Bobby'; 'Margaret', 'Meg', 'Maggie', etc.):
Antonia, Antonietta; Antonio, Tonio, Toni (mainly northern),
'Ntoni (mainly southern), Tonino; Carla, Carlotta; Carlo, Carlino,
Carletto; Donata, Donatella; Giovanni, Giovannino, Nanni, Vanni,
Gianni, Giannino; Giuseppe, Beppe, Beppino, Peppe, Peppino; Lina,
Linetta, Linuccia; Luigi, Luigino, Gigi, Gigino, Gigetto; Maria,
Marietta, Mariuccia, MariP, Mariolina; Pietro, Piero, Pierino,
Pieretto; Simona, Simonetta.

In many cases a dialectal diminutive is the form habitually used in

all circumstances (apart from official ones), for instance in Venice
Bepi for Giuseppe, Gegia for Teresa, Nane for Giovanni. The use of
nicknames is also common; they may become semi-official, for
instance for Venetian gondoliers: Sergio Tagliapietra, a famous
compenitor in regattas, is always known as Ciaci.
(g) The word with the suffix often has an independent meaning, not
predictable from the original word: braccio 'arm', bracciolo 'arm of a
chair'; busta 'envelope', bustarella 'bribe money'; canna 'rod', can-
none 'cannon'; capello 'hair', capellone 'hippy'; cawo 'cart', cawozza
'carriage'; pane 'bread', panettone 'panettone' (a special cake, com-
monly eaten at Christmas); spago 'string', spaghetti 'spaghetti';
verme 'worm', vermicelli 'vermicelli'.
(h) Although we are not dealing with suffixation in general, in a
discussion on evaluative suffixes one should mention the following,
which have expressive connotations:
-aglia, to form derogatory collectives, as in accozzaglia 'jumble' (a
term introduced into the literary language by Manzoni),
182 Italian Language Today
anticaglia 'old junk', canaglia 'rabble', 'wretch', marmaglia 'riff-
raff', plebaglia 'common herd', ragazzaglia 'a noisy band of
boys', soldataglia 'band of soldiers'; the force of the suffix has
been obliterated in battaglia 'battle', boscaglia 'underwood'
-ame, tb form cbllectives, as in bestiame 'live-stock', fogliame
'foliage', pollame 'poultry', ossame 'heap of bones', but it may
have derogatory implications which are taken up in occasional
creations: bambiname 'horde of children'; the politician M.
Scelba in 1949 referred to Italian intellectuals hostile to his party
as culturame 'cultural scum'
-ardo, to form pejorative adjectives and nouns, as in testardo 'stub-
born', vecchiardo 'nasty old man' (cf. bastardo 'bastard', bugiardo
'liar', codardo 'coward', infingardo 'slacker')
-io, to form nouns indicating repeated intensive action, as in bor-
bottio 'muttering', brontolio 'grumbling', calpestio 'stamping', for-
micolio 'swarming', 'tingling', lavorio 'constant working', mor-
morio 'murmuring'
-one, to form nouns indicating someone who indulges excessively in
an action, as in beone 'drinker', brontolone 'grumbler', chiac-
chierone 'chatterer', fannullone 'idler', imbroglione 'cheat', man-
gione 'glutton'
-ume, to form derogatory collectives, or to indicate a substance
derogatorily, as in forestierume 'foreign muck' or 'foreign scum',
biancume 'whitish stuff'. It is appended to words which already
have unpleasant connotations: sudiciume'filth', untume'grease'.

(i) It may be interesting to note that a variety of suffixes can be

added to one and the same stem, for instance from carta 'paper',
cartina '(cigarette) paper', carticino 'signature' (a typographic
term), cartella 'brief-case', cartellina 'folder', cartaccia 'waste
paper', cartoccio 'wrapping', cartone 'cardboard', cartoncino
'card', cartonaccio 'cheap cardboard', cartuccia 'cartridge', car-
tello 'poster', cartellino 'tag', cartellone 'wall poster', cartolina 'post-
card' (and other words are formed with suffixes we have not listed
above, as they are not evaluative, such as cartiera 'paper mill', car-
tiglio 'scroll', cartoleria 'stationer's', e t ~ . ) .
 Compound and juxtaposed nouns 183

4 Compound and juxtaposed nouns

(a) Compounds
A purely diachronic classification would be inappropriate in this
context, because in many cases the mechanism of the composition
has no relation to contemporary grammatical structure (e.g., ter-
remoto 'earthquake', ferragosto 'August bank holiday', pettirosso
'redbreast'). A purely synchronic classification would be hindered
by the large number of cases where it is difficult to establish whether
the word is felt to be a compound by present day speakers, or how
the components are felt to be related to each other (e.g., capolauoro
'masterpiece', girasole 'sunflower'); it would have to limit itself to
listing certain differences (such as capostazione 'station master'
plural capistazione vs. capogiro 'dizziness' plural capogiri vs.
capomastro 'master builder' plural capimastri) which fall into place
not in terms of our present day awareness of the relationship bet-
ween the components, but rather with a diachronic consideration of
their original relationship.
We offer a classification of compounds based on the grammatical
categories to which the components belong, and the grammatical
function (as head or modifier) which the components fill in the com-
pound; in the analysis of individual compounds we follow the
etymology if the structure is not synchronically recognizable. Both
the singular and plural of the words are given, with a comment at the
end of each section on the formation of the plural.

(i) Noun + noun

(A)(I)Modifier (complement) + head: l'acquedotto 'aqueduct' gli
acquedotti, la banconota 'banknote' le banconote, il capogiro 'dizzi-
ness' i capogiri, la ferrouia 'railway' le ferrouie, la filouia 'trolley-bus
line' le filouie, il fruttiuendolo 'greengrocer' i fruttiuendoli, il mano-
scritto 'manuscript' i manoscritti, il manrouescio 'back handed slap' i
manrouesci, il pesciuendolo 'fishmonger' i pesciuendoli, il terremoto
'earthquake' i terremoti.
As one would expect only the head goes into the plural.
(11) Modifier (attribute)+head: il capocomico 'actor manager' i
capicomici or capocomici, il capocuoco 'head cook' i capicuochi or
capocuochi, il capoluogo 'main town' i capiluoghi or capoluoghi, il
capomastro 'master builder' i capimastri or capomastri.
184 Italian Language Today
As the relationship between the components has been obscured,
we get two forms of the plural. Otherwise the normal form is with
both components in the plural. When a feminine can exist, capo is
felt to be a prefix: la capocuoca, le capocuoche.
(B) (I) Head + modifier (complement): l'acquavite 'eau de vie' le
acqueviti, il capobanda 'ringleader' i capibanda, il capofamiglia
'head of the family' i capifamiglia, il capolavoro 'masterpiece' i
capolavori, il capolinea 'terminus' i capilinea, il capopopolo 'popular
leader' i capipopolo, il caporeparto 'foreman' i capireparto, il
caposezione 'head clerk' i capisezione, il capostazione 'station
master' i capistazione, il caporreno 'guard' i capitreno, la cartapecora
'parchment' le cartapecore, il crocevia 'cross-road' i crocevia, il
cruciverba 'crossword' i cruciverba, il ferragosto 'August bank
holiday' i ferragosti, la madreperla 'mother of pearl' le madreperle, il
nerofumo 'dark grey' i nerifumo, il verderame 'verdigris' i verdirame.
Only the head goes into the plural (although it is the first element
in the compound), except for the cases where the relationship has
been obscured as in ferragosto, acquauite, capolavoro, cartapecora,
crocevia, cruciuerba, madreperla, when the word is treated as a unit
(crocevia and cruciverba are invariable). Alternative plurals are
found, such as acquaviti, capilavori, nerofumo and verderame.
(11) Head + modifier (attribute): l'arcobaleno 'rainbow' gli
arcobaleni, la cassapanca 'chest' le cassepanche, il cavolfiore 'cauli-
flower' i cavolfiori, il grillotalpa 'mole-cricket' i grillitalpa, il pe-
scecane 'shark' i pescecani or pescicani, il pescespada 'swordfish' i
pescispada, il porcospino 'porcupine' i porcospini.
If both components have the same gender as the compound they
both go into the plural, but if the word is felt to be a unit only the last
component goes into the plural: arcobaleni; if the last component
has a different gender from the compound only the head goes into
the plural.

(ii) Noun + adjective

(A) Head + modifier: l'acquaforte 'etching' le acqueforti, il cam-
posanto 'cemetery' i camposanti, il caposaldo 'stronghold' i
capisaldi, la cassaforte 'safe' le casseforti, il granturco 'maize' i gran-
turchi, il palcoscenico 'stage' i palcoscenici, la terracotta 'terracotta'
le terrecotte, la terraferma 'mainland' le terreferme. In this context
one can add what was originally noun (head) + preposition + noun
 Compound and juxtaposed nouns 185
(modifier): il pomodoro 'tomato' i pomidoro, i pomidori or more
commonly i pomodori; and also a group of invariable words which
can be used to modify or to replace a noun or personal name: bar-
banera 'black beard', barbarossa 'red beard', denti d'oro 'gold teeth:,
gambacorta 'short leg', manolesta 'light-fingered', occhitorti 'squint
eyed', piedipiatti 'flat footed', spadalunga 'long sword', etc.
As one might expect both components go into the plural (even
pomidori, where if the composition is taken into account one gets
the rarer pomidoro); but if the awareness of the composition has
been obscured the word is treated as a unit: camposanti, palco-
scenici, and the alternative plurals cassaforti, terracotte.
(B) Modifier + head: la capinera 'black cap' le capinere, il pet-
tirosso 'redbreast' i pettirossi.
One can also add literary adjectives like biancovestito 'white
clad' = uestito di bianco and fededegno 'trustworthy' = degno di
fede. As one might expect the head goes into the plural.

(iii) Adjective + noun

Modifier + head: l'altopiano (or altipiano) 'plateau' gli altopiani
(or altipiani), il bassorilievo 'basrelief' i bassorilievi (or, rarer, bas-
sirilieui), il belvedere 'observation point' i beluederi, il biancospino
'hawthorn' i biancospini, la buonalana 'rascal' le buonelane, il fran-
cob0110 'stamp' i francobolli, il galantuomo 'gentleman' i galan-
tuomini, la grancassa 'big drum' le grancasse, il granduca 'grand
duke' i granduchi, la mezzaluna 'crescent' le mezzelune, la mez-
zanotte 'midnight' le mezzenotti, la mezzatinta 'half tone' le mez-
zetinte, il mezzogiorno 'midday' i mezzogiorni. One can also add
purosangue 'thoroughbred' which is invariable and can be used
nominally or adjectivally: ha due purosangue 'he has two
thoroughbreds'.
If the word is felt to be a unit, the head alone goes into the plural
(francobolli), otherwise both the head and the modifier have plural
endings (mezzetinte).

(iv) Adjective + adjective

(A) agrodolce, -i 'bittersweet', grigioverde, -i 'grey green',
pianoforte, -i 'piano', sordomuto, -i 'deaf and dumb', uerdazzurro, -i
'greenish blue'.
186 Italian Language Today
As far as the plural is concerned, these compounds are treated as
units.

(B) There are many compounds which are created as the need arises
and are not usually given in dictionaries. Only the last component
agrees in gender and number with the noun it refers to; the preced-
ing components often end in an -0- which takes the place of their
normal ending; sometimes they have a shorter form without an
adjectival suffix: abitudini piccolo-borghesi 'petty bourgeois habits',
questioni economico-sociali or socio-economiche 'socio-economic
questions', anarco-sindacalista 'anarcho-syndicalist'. This -0- has
been widely used in learned terminology in the European languages
since the sixteenth century when it was taken from Greek models. It
is now particularly frequent at the end of 'prefixoids' (cf. chapter
IV. 2(d)(vi)), as in aero-, radio-, etc.; it is not the -0 of the Italian
masculine singular ending, as is apparent from cases like bucco-
laringale 'bucco-laryngeal', vegeto-minerale 'vegeto-mineral',
radico-socialista 'radical-socialist', and from the fact that it is also
used in other languages, like English, where -0 is not the normal
masculine ending. In some cases the 'connective' vowel is not the -0-
common in Greek but the -i- which was common in Latin: cf. cen-
timetro 'centimetre', funivia 'cableway' with -i-, as against
chilometro 'kilometre', filovia 'trolley-bus' with -0-. The compo-
nents may have different values: italo-americanimay mean 'Ameri-
cans who are of Italian origin', or 'involving Italy and America' as in
accordi italo-americani 'Italo-American ag;eements7. Adjectives in
-ale usually drop the final vowel (or the whole suffix) when they are
used as non-final components: radical-socialista or radico-socialists
'radical-socialist'. This truncation would seem to suggest a unity
rather than a split: one therefore expects alleanza liberal-socialists
'liberal-socialist alliance', but polemica liberale-socialista 'polemic
between liberals and socialists'. In social-comunista 'socialist-
communist' the first component stands of course for socialists.

(v) Verb + noun

(A) When the noun is the object: l'asciugamano 'towel' gli
asciugamani, l'attaccapanni 'clothes hanger' gli attaccapanni, il
baciamano 'handkissing' i baciamani, il battimano'clapping' i batti-
mani, il beccafico 'garden warbler' i beccafichi, il beccamorto
'sexton' i beccamorti, il bucaneve 'snowdrop' i bucaneve, il cacciavite
 Compound and juxtaposed nouns 187
'screwdriver' i cacciavite or cacciaviti, il cavalcavia 'flyover' i caval-
cavia, il cavatappi 'corkscrew' i cavatappi, il coprifuoco 'curfew' i
coprifuochi, il girarrosto 'spit' i girarrosti, il grattacielo 'skyscraper' i
grattacieli, il guardaboschi 'forester' i guardaboschi, il guardaroba
'wardrobe' i guardaroba, la lavastoviglie 'washing-up machine' le
lavastoviglie, il mangiadischi '(a kind of) record player' i man-
giadischi, il mangiapane 'loafer' i mangiapane, il parabrezza
'windscreen' i parabrezza, il paracadute 'parachute' i paracadute, il
parafango 'mudguard' i parafanghi, il parafulmine 'lightening con-
ductor' i parafulmini, il paralume 'lampshade' i paralumi, il
paravento 'screen' i paraventi, il piantagrane 'troublemaker' i
piantagrane, il portabandiera 'standard bearer' i portabandiera, il
portacenere 'ashtray' i portacenere or portaceneri (the latter is not
found in standard dictionaries but is used), il portafoglio 'wallet' i
portafogli, il portafortuna 'mascot' i portafortuna, il portalettere
'postman' i portalettere, il portamonete 'purse' i portamonete, il
portaombrelli 'umbrella stand' iportaombrelli, il rompiscatole'pain in
the neck' i rompiscatole, il salvagente 'life buoy' i salvagente or sal-
vagenti, lo scansafatiche 'shirker' gli scansafatiche, lo spartiacque
'watershed' gli spartiacque, lo spazzacamino 'chimney sweep' gli
spazzacamini, lo stuzzicadente (or stuzzicadenti) 'tooth pick' gli
stuzzicadenti, il tergicristallo 'windscreen wiper' i tergicristalli, il
tirapiedi 'sidekick' i tirapiedi, il tritacame 'mincer' i tritacame, il
tritatutto 'mincer' i tritatutto.
These compound nouns, if masculine, and if the noun component
is masculine, or is a feminine ending in -0 or in -e, usually have a
plural ending in -i: i grattacieli, gli asciugamani, i cacciaviti (note,
however, i bucaneve, i mangiapane); but they are invariable if the
noun component is feminine ending in -a: i cavalcavia. If the noun
component is already in the plural then naturally the word is
invariable: illi cavatappi. These rules apply also to (v) (B) and (C).
(B) When the noun is the subject: il battibecco 'squabble' i bat-
tibecchi, il batticuore 'palpitation' i batticuori, il battiscopa 'skirting
board' i battiscopa, il crepacuore 'heart break' i crepacuori, il mar-
ciapiede 'pavement' i marciapiedi, il saltamartino'jack-in-the-box' i
saltamartini.
(C) Other combinations: il cascamorto 'love-lorn suitor' i cascamor-
ti, and (with a preposition) il saltimbanco 'acrobat' i saltimbanchi, il
saltimbocca 'saltimbocca' (a Roman meat dish) i saltimbocca.
188 Italian Language Today
(vi) Verb + verb
l'andirivieni 'coming and going' gli andirivieni, il dormiveglia 'dozi-
ness' i dorrniveglia, il fuggi-fuggi 'flight' i fuggi-fuggi, il pappataci
'sandfly' i pappataci, il parapiglia 'confusion' i parapiglia, il sali-
scendi 'latkh' i saliscendi, il tiramolla 'wavering' i tiramolla, il va e
vieni 'coming and going' i va e vieni.
As one might expect these compounds are invariable.

(vii) Preposition + noun

il dopopranzo 'afternoon' i dopopranzi, il doposcuola 'after school
activities' i doposcuola, il fuoribordo 'outboard motorboat' i
fuoribordo, il Lungarno 'the Lungarno' i Lungarni, il lungomare'the
promenade' i lungomari or lungomare, il retroterra 'hinterland' i
retroterra, il senzatetto 'homeless' i senzatetto, il sottaceto 'pickle' i
sottaceti, il sottopassaggio 'underground passage' i sottopassaggi.
There is a plural ending if the compound has the same gender as
the noun component ( i dopopranzi, but i doposcuola), unless the
word is felt to be an invariable modifier of a noun which is under-
stood: i senzatetto are 'people who are senza tetto'.

(b) Juxtapositions
With terms of colour one finds phrases like rosa pastello 'pastel
pink', viola scuro 'dark mauve', verde bottiglia 'bottle green', rosso
fuoco 'flame red', giallo oro 'golden yellow', grigioperla 'pearl grey',
etc. They may be used as masculine nouns; the form taken by the
plural depends on the nature of the juxtaposition: il giallo oro, i
gialli oro, il viola scuro, i viola scuri, il rosa pastello, i rosa pastello. As
adjectives they are invariable: guanti grigioperla 'pearl grey gloves'.
We also find constructions like delle sciarpe color verde bottiglia
'bottle green scarves', with four nouns juxtaposed. This brings us to
a phenomenon which is gaining ground in modern Italian, i.e. nom-
inal juxtaposition.
(c) (i) Whilst in English in a typical juxtaposition of noun + noun
the function of the juxtaposed items is modifier + head, in Italian
the function is always head + modifier ('restaurant car' vs. vagone
ristorante). The origin of this widespread use of juxtapositions is
probably the telegraphic style of technical and commercial
communications. Expressions like calze filo and filo calze are not
used in ordinary language but there are contexts in which they could
 Compound and juxtaposed nouns 189
easily be found, for example, in a shop window, the former adver-
tising calze di filo 'cotton socks' and the latter labelling a type of
thread, filo per calze 'cotton for socks'.
The juxtaposition of head and modifier can cover different
relationships which may be grouped into two main categories:
(A) in the first group the modifier is like a noun complement:
treno merci 'goods train' which is un treno per le merci; stile impero
'Empire style', that is stile dell'impero; piazzale ovest 'West yard',
that is il piazzale a ovest; formato cartolina 'postcard format', that is
formato di una cartolina;
( B ) in the second group the modifier is more like a predicate: the
head is like, or shares qualities with, the modifier: discorso fiume is a
speech that goes on and on like a river; donna cannone is a woman
as large as a cannon; oaligia armadio is a suitcase that also has the
function of a wardrobe; chiusura lampo 'zip' is a fastener which can
be closed as fast as lightning.

(ii) Some of these juxtaposed pairs can in turn be used as modifiers

of a preceding head: un vestito stile impero 'an Empire style dress',
una fotografia formato cartolina 'a postcard sized photo', guanti tip0
cameriere 'waiter style gloves'.

(iii) In these pairs which can be juxtaposed as modifiers to other

nouns, we frequently get as head words like formato 'size' (foto-
grafia formato tessera 'passport sized photo'), genere 'type' (deifilm
genere Cinecitth 'Cinecitth type films'), marca 'brand' (un prodotto
marca Zeta 'a Zeta brand product'), misura 'measure' (canottiere
misura bambino 'children's size vests'), stile 'style' ( u n tavolo stile
Luigi XIV 'a Louis XIV table'), tipo 'type' (sigari tip0 magnate
'tycoon type cigars'), uso 'imitation' or 'in the manner of' (una borsa
uso pelle 'an imitation leather briefcase', una natura morta uso
Braque 'a still-life in the manner of Braque'); on the other hand, in
ordinary juxtapositions, we frequently get as modifiers words like
base 'basic' (idea base 'basic idea'), chiave 'key' (concetto chiave
'key concept'), tema 'theme' (parola tema 'theme word'), fiume
'river' (romanzo fiume 'endless novel', 'saga'), modello 'model'
(impiegato modello 'model employee'), tip0 'typical' Cfamiglia tip0
'typical family'). One consequence of this is that certain juxtaposi-
tions are ambiguous: formato chiave may mean either 'key size' or
'key sized'.
The productive use of juxtapositions is very common in English,
190 Italian Language Today
whereas in Italian it is more limited, and is felt to be a bold innova-
tion often retaining the harshness of a telegraphic style and not very
satisfactorily integrated into Italian syntactic patterns.

5 Position of adjectives
(a) The basic rule concerning the position of adjectives5 is that

(i) they follow the noun they qualify when they have a distin-
guishing, restrictive fdnction, i.e., when the quality they express is
contrasted to others which might refer to the same noun: si sedette
sulla poltrona vecchia 'he sat down in the old armchair' implies a
contrast with at least another armchair which is not old.
(ii) they precede the nbun they qualify when they have a purely
descriptive, non-restrictive value: si sedette sulla vecchia poltrona
'he sat down in the old armchair' also tells us that the armchair is
old, but does not contrast it with newer ones.
The restrictive use of the postnominal position is particularly
clear when there is a definite article: a choice is implied. But even
when the indefinite article is used, the difference between the two
functions is still clear, although the postnominal position does not
imply a choice between armchairs: si sedette su unapoltrona vecchia
tells us that the chair is old and not new, whereas si sedette su una
vecchia poltrona merely tells us that the chair happens to be old, i.e.,
in the second sentence the contrast oldlnew is only a lexical feature
of the word vecchia, in the first it is brought out by the syntax.
Most adjectives can have both these functions: prendiamo unpo'
di buon vino 'let's have some good wine' implies that we appreciate
wine; prendiamo unpo'di vino buono'let's have some good wine', or
'wine which is good' implies we are choosing good wine; ha preso il
pacco grosso 'he took the big parcel' (and not the smaller one); ha
preso il grosso pacco 'he took the big parcel' (a parcel which hap-
pened to be big); dall'altra parte si vedevano delle scogliere bianche
'on the other side we could see some white cliffs'; dalla nave
traghetto avuistammo le bianche scogliere di Dover 'from the ferry-
boat we sighted the white cliffs of Dover'.

(b) An adjective which precedes is often weakened in its descrip-

tive function, so that it becomes almost a cliche, as in pallida luna
 Position of adjectives 191
'pale moon', teneri affetti 'tender feelings', dura necessitd 'harsh
necessity', gentile invito 'kind invitation'. This may even lead to a
change of meaning: un buon uomo 'a good fellow' is different from
un uomo buono 'a man who is good'. The difference in meaning may
become even more pronounced: un grand' uomo 'a great man', but
un uomo grande 'a big man'; un pover'uomo 'an unfortunate man' is
not necessarily un uomopovero 'a poor man' (i.e., not rich). Usually
the adjective has a literal sense when it follows the noun, and a
metaphorical one when it precedes.
There are also adjectives which have a more radical difference in
meaning according to position: certe notizie 'some news', notizie
certe 'news which are certain'; diversi libri 'several books', libri
diversi 'different books'; un nuovo vestito 'a new dress', in the sense
of a different dress; un vestito nuovo 'a new dress', in the sense of a
dress worn for the first time; numerose famiglie 'many families',
famiglie numerose 'large families'; 2 un semplice furto 'it is simply a
theft', i? un furto semplice 'it is an easy theft', un unico libro 'one book
only', un libro unico 'a unique book'; un vecchio amico 'an old
friend' (of long standing), un amico vecchio 'an elderly friend'.

(c) Certain adjectives normally precede the noun: cardinal numbers

(but not in commercial usage: lire 1000, metri 2 ' 2 metres', scatole 5
' 5 boxes'), ordinal numbers and ultimo 'last' (but in books we have
capitolo primo 'chapter one', parte seconda 'part two', libro terzo
'book three', etc.), possessives (unless they are contrastive: voglio il
cappello mio 'I want my hat') and indefinites. Examples, in the
above order: voglio due caff2 'I want two coffees', mi metto inprima
(seconda, ultima) fila 'I'm going to sit in the first (second, last) row',
dov'i? il mio libro? 'where is my book?', fra pochi minuti 'in a few
minutes', ha molte qualitd 'he has many qualities'.

(d) There are other adjectives which normally follow the noun, for
instance adjectives of nationality, past participles used as adjec-
tives, and those adjectives which, on account of their meaning, are
almost always used with a restrictive function: il pop010 italiano'the
Italian people', ecco le camicie stirate 'here are the ironed shirts', ci
sono mele cotte? 'are there any stewed apples?', c'erano degli uomini
armati 'there were armed men', si era messo un vestito scuro 'he had
put on a dark suit'.

(e) When a noun is followed by a specification, the adjective often

192 Italian Language Today
precedes, and when an adjective is followed by a specification it
follows the noun: gli ampi risvolti della giacca 'the wide lapels of the
jacket' (but also i risvolti ampi della giacca and i risuolti della giacca
ampi), un uomo lesto di mano 'a light-fingered man', una ragazza
scura di carnagione 'a girl with a dark complexion'.
An adjective modified by an adverb almost inevitably has a
restrictive function and therefore follows the noun: unapasseggiata
molto lunga 'a very long walk' modifies the notion of una passeg-
giata lunga, not of una lunga passeggiata. (But if the adverb is piu
'more' or bene 'well', one may have, with the expected descriptive
function, una ben triste vicenda 'a very sad event', un piu facile suc-
cesso 'an easier success'.) Adjectives modified by a suffix similarly
tend to follow the noun: una valigia pesantuccia 'a heavyish case',
un pacco grossetto 'a biggish parcel', etc.
If there are several adjectives, they are usually restrictive, and so
they follow the noun: vini buoni, secchi, leggeri 'good, light, dry
wines'. Similarly a double adjective with the value of a superlative
will follow the noun: scrivimi una lettera lunga lunga 'write me a
long long letter', but a double adjective with the function of an
adverb has greater freedom of position: sen'a seria la bambina mi
guardb or la bambina seria seria mi guardb or la bambina mi guardb
seria seria 'the little girl looked at me very seriously'.

(f) For reasons of emphasis there may be inversion, that is a restric-

tive adjective may precede and a descriptive adjective may follow,
the appropriate intonation being used to show that the restrictive
adjective, although preceding, has not acquired a descriptive func-
tion, and vice versa; the adjective is then in a tone group of its own;
there are two tone groups in ha preso il pacco grosso N3 ha preso il
PACCO//~ GROSSO// (= ha preso il grossopacco, descriptive); and there
are three tone groups in ha preso il grosso pacco /I3 ha PRESO//~ il
GROSSO//~ PACCO//(= ha preso il pacco grosso, restrictive). These
inversions, however, belong to a rhetorical style and not to everyday
language.

6 Agreement of adjectives
As stated in chapter V. 6 an adjective agrees in gender and number
with the noun it qualifies. When an adjective refers to two or more
nouns and follows them, the simplest and least ambiguous rule of
agreement is that if the nouns to which h refers are feminine, the
 Agreement of adjectives 193
adjective is feminine plural, and in all other cases it is masculine
plural: (a) cerco una gonna e una camicetta gialle 'I am looking for a
yellow skirt and a yellow blouse', (b) cerco un cappotto e un cappello
neri ' I am looking for a black coat and a black hat', (c) porta cravatta
e cappello neri 'he is wearing a black tie and a black hat', (d) porta
cappello e scarpe neri 'he is wearing a black hat and black shoes', (e)
porta guanti e scarpe gialli 'she is wearing yellow gloves and yellow
shoes'.
There is also the possibility of making the adjective agree with the
nearest noun, using gialla in (a), nero in (b) and (c), nere in (d) and
gialle in (e). This form of agreement is particularly frequent when
the nouns refer to a single notion, as in lingua e ietteratura italiana
'Italian language and literature': the name of a discipline. This
agreement is inevitably ambiguous as the adjective could be taken
to refer to the last noun only.
When one of the nouns is in the masculine plural, it is possible to
make the two rules coincide, by putting it last, but if instead of (e)
one says porta scarpe e guanti gialli, one avoids the clash between
scarpe and gialli, but one reintroduces an ambiguity.
If the adjective precedes, it agrees with the nearest noun: buonis-
sime paste e dolci 'very good cakes and sweets', completa pace e
silenzio 'complete peace and silence'.
When an adjective referring to several nouns is used as a predi-
cate, the ayeement must be in the plural, in the feminine if all nouns
are feminine, in the masculine ii all other cases: (a) la gonna e la
camicetta erano gialle, (b) il cappotto e il cappello erano neri, (c) la
cravatta e il cappotto erano neri, (d) il cappello e le scarpe erano neri,
(e) i guanti e le scarpe erano gialli.
We saw in chapter V. 5(c) (x)-(xi) that adjectives of foreign
origin (blu, beige, marron) and adjectives such as rosa and viola are
invariable; complex expressions indicating colour are also invari-
able (they are in the masculine singular): una sciarpa rosso fuoco 'a
flame red scarf', delle giacche verde bottiglia 'bottle-green coats',
una maglia giallo pallido 'a pale yellow jersey', una vestaglia aran-
cione cupo 'a dark orange dressing-gown'.
Some noun complements can be used in a similar way to aggettivi
sostantivati (i.e., adjectives used as nouns), but are normally invari-
able. Just as one says le grandi 'the big girls', ipiccoli 'the little ones',
so one can also have t una second'anno 'she is a second year', i
quart'anno 'the fourth years', etc., instead of t una studentessa di
second'anno, gli studenti di quart'anno.
194 Italian Language Today

7 Position of adverbs
(a) If an adverb modifies an adjective or another adverb, it precedes
it: t piuttosto bravo 'he is rather good', si pub fare molto facilmente
'it can be done very easily'.

(b) If it modifies a verb, it usually immediately follows, or comes at

the end of the clause: ha finitopresto'he finished early', parlava forte
'he was talking loudly', legge raramente testi che non siano tecnici'he
rarely reads non-technical works', viene sempre a trovarmi 'he
always comes to see me', me l'ha detto di nuovo'he told me again',
l'ho visto solo due volte 'I only saw him twice', ha accettato volentieri
la mia proposta 'he gladly accepted my proposal', ha chiuso silen-
ziosamente la porta 'he quietly shut the door', ha chiuso la porta
silenziosamente 'he shut the door quietly'. Note that 'he speaks Ita-
lian well' corresponds to parla bene l'italiano; parla l'italiano bene
has an emphatic collocation of the adverb.
The position of the adverb may change the meaning of a sen-
tence: stranamente ha parlato di questo argomento and ha
stranamente parlato di questo argornento both correspond to
'strangely he talked about this subject', whilst ha parlato
stranamente di questo argomento and ha parlato di questo argomento
stranamente both correspond to 'he talked about this subject
strangely' (all with unmarked intonation); mi ha detto subito di
venire 'he at once told me to come', mi ha detto di venire subito 'he
told me to come at once'.

(c) As will be noticed in the example ha stranamente parlato di

questo argomento the adverb may come between the first auxiliary
and the past participle. There are some adverbs for which this is the
normal position: b gid venuto 'he has already come', b gid statopreso
'he has already been caught', non l'ho ancora letto ' I have not read it
yet', non l'avevopiu visto 'I had not seen him again', l'ha sempre fatto
'he has always done it', non l'ho mai visto 'I have never seen him',
non aveva affatto detto questo 'he had not said that at all', ti ha forse
parlato di me? 'did he perhaps mention me to you?', ti ha poi raccon-
tat0 quella storia? 'did he in the end tell you that story?', te ne avevo
ben parlato ' I had surely told you about it' (cf. te ne avevo parlato
bene 'I had spoken well of it to you').
In constructions with more than one verb, the adverb follows the
verb it modifies (or its auxiliary): ha gid cercato di imparare ad
 Adverbs 195
andare in bicicletta 'he has already tried to learn to ride a bicycle', ha
cercato di imparare rapidamente ad andare in bicicletta 'he has tried
to learn to ride a bicycle in a short time', ha cercato di imparare ad
andare dappertutto in bicicletta 'he has tried to learn to cycle
everywhere'.

(d) The adverbial positions we have given above are the neutral,
normal ones; it is of course possible to convey greater emphasis by
changing the position: molto facilmente si pub fare 'very easily it can
be done', di nuovo me l'ha detto 'again he told me', gid t venuto or t
venuto gid 'already he has come'.
Instead of changing the position of the adverb, a similar effect
may be achieved by changing the normal intonation, as shown in the
following example by the use of commas: ha parlato, stranamente, di
quest0 argO??lentO 113 ha PAR LA TO//^ STRANAMENTE//~ di quest0
ARGOMENTOII = stranamente ha parlato di questo argomento.

(e) Anche 'also', neanche 'not even', solo, solamente, soltanto'only'

precede the word they modify: t venuto anche lui 'hecame too', non
t venuto neanche lui 'not even he came', ho anche visto Ugo 'I also
saw Ugo' (as well as doing other things), ho visto anche Ugo 'I saw
Ugo too' (as well as seeing other people), ho visto Ada e anche Ugo
'I saw Ada and also Ugo', io ho visto Ada e Ugo anche ' I saw Ada
and so did Ugo' (where anche suggests that a following l'ha vista is
understood), ho solo comprato una matita 'I only bought a pencil'
(and did nothing else), ho comprato solo una matita ' I only bought a
pencil' (and nothing else).

(f) Ci 'there' which is commonly used with essere (c't, ci sono 'there
is, there are') is frequently used with avere at a colloquial level: ci
auresti un fiammifero?(= avresti un fiammifero?) 'would you have a
match on you'!', and often indicates greater involvement of the
speaker: hai un be/ paio di scarpe 'you've got a nice pair of shoes'
vs. ci hai un belpaio di scarpe 'that's a nice pair of shoes you've got'.
The spelling may be ci avresti, ci hai, or c'avresti, c'hai; the normal
pronunciation is in any case [tSavrCsti], [tshi].
196 Italian Language Today

8 Some constructions wiihlwithout prepositions

(a) W e give exalhples of constructions with verb + verb a n d
verb + noun, t o show which prepositions, if any, are used. W e try t o
give productive constructions, a n d t o avoid purely idiomatic ones.
A semicolon separates verb constructions from n o u n constructions.
ABZTUARSZ: si 2 abituato a fumare la pipa 'he has got used to smoking a
pipe'; sit abituato alla pipa 'he has got used to a pipe', lo hanno abituato alla
pipa 'they have accustomed him to a pipe'
ACCENNARE: non accenna ad entrare 'he shows no sign of coming in',
mi accenna di entrare 'he beckons me to come in'; ha accennato un gesto di
rifiuto 'he made a slight sign of refusal', ha accennato a un episodio
spiacevole 'he hinted at an unpleasant episode'
ACCETTARE: accetto di venire ' I agree to come'; accetto I'invito 'I
accept the invitation'
ACCONDZSCENDERE: ha accondisceso a fermarsi'he agreed to stop';
accondiscendono alla rue esigenze 'they agree to your demands'
ACCONSENTZRE: ha acconsentito a parlare 'he consented to speak';
hanno acconsentito alla nostra richiesta 'they agreed to our request'
ACCUSARE: lo accusava di essere unpedante 'he accused him of being
pedantic'; lo accusavano di pedanteria 'they accused him of pedantry'
AFFRETTAR(S1): si 2 affrettato a partire 'he hastened to leave'; ha
affrettato la partenza 'he hastened his departure'
AZUTARE: l'aiuterb a scendere 'I'll help him get down'; aiutavo Ada 'I
helped Ada'
A M A R E : ama cantare 'he loves singing'; ama la discussione 'he loves
arguing'
AMMETTERE: ammette di averlo fatto 'he admits he has done it'; non
ammette obiezioni 'he admits no objections'
A N D A R E : vado aprenderlo 'I'm going to get it'; vado in Ztalia 'I'm going
to Italy', vado a Milano 'I'm going to Milan', vado da Ugo 'I'm going to
Ugo's', vado dal macellaio 'I'm going to the butcher's'
ARRZVARE: t arrivato a insultarmi 'he got to the point of insulting me';
t arrivato all'esasperazione 'he got to the point of exasperation', t arrivato in
Ztalia 'he got to Italy', t amvato a Roma 'he got to Rome', 12 arrivato da
Roma 'he has arrived from Rome', t arrivato da Ugo 'he got to Ugo's'
ARRZSCHIAR(S1): mi arrischio a parlare 'I venture to speak'; si 2 arri-
schiato in unprogetto difficile 'he ventured upon a difficult project', arrischio
una grossa somma ' I risk a large sum'
ASPETTARE: aspetta dipartire 'he is waiting to leave', aspetta apartire!
'don't leave yet!', aspetto a partire che arrioi Ugo or aspetto che arrivi Ugoper
partire 'I am waiting for Ugo to arrive before I leave'; aspetta il treno 'he is
waiting for the train'
 Prepositions 197
ASPETTARSI: non mi aspettavo di riuscirci ' I did not expect to succeed',
mi aspetto che arrivi Ugo ' I am expecting Ugo to arrive'; mi aspetto una
telefonata ' I am expecting a telephone call' (vs. aspetto una telefonata ' I am
waiting for a telephone call')
ASPIRARE: aspira a diventar papa 'he is aspiring to become pope';
aspira a1 pontificato 'he is aspiring to the pontificate', and, with a different
meaning, non dooresti aspirare il fumo 'you shouldn't inhale smoke', aspira
le consonanti 'he aspirates his consonants'
ASSICURAR(SI): mi ha assicurato di saperlo fare 'he assured me he
could d o it', assicurati di non avere impegni'make sure you have no engage-
ments'; ha assicurato la casa contro gli incendi 'he insured his house against
fire', quell'impiego gli assicura la trhnquillitct economica 'that job g&an-
tees him freedom from financial worries'
ASTENERSI: si astiene dal bere 'he is abstaining from drinking'; si
astiene dal vino 'he is abstaining from wine'
A UGURARE: gli auguro di star bene and gli auguro buona salute ' I wish
him good health'
A V E R E : ho da far questo ' I must d o this', ho da fare ' I am busy', ho da
leggere un libro ' I have to read a book' (less commonly ho a instead of ho
da); ho un libro da leggere ' I have a book to read' (in the past: ebbe a dirmi
che l'aveva fatto lui 'he happened to tell me he had done it himself')
BADARE: bada a fare il two lavoro 'you just get on with your work',
bada di finire il tuo lavoro 'mind you finish your work', bada di non cadere
'mind you don't fall' (specific), bada a non cadere 'be careful you don't fail'
(general); bada ai fani tuoi 'mind your own business', bada alla minestra
'look after the soup', or 'careful with the soup'
CAPIRE: capi di essere responsabile 'he understood he was responsible';
ha capito il ragionamento 'he understood the argument'
CERCARE: cerca di finire 'he is trying to finish'; cercavano te 'they were
looking for you', cercavano di te 'they were asking for you'
CESSARE: ha cessato di parlare 'he stopped talking'; ha cessato le sue
attivitci 'he gave up his activities'
CHIEDERE: ha chiesto diparlarti 'he asked to speak to you'; ha chiesto
un libro a Ada 'he asked Ada for a book', ha chiesto di Ugo 'he asked after
Ugo'
COMANDARE: ha comandaro ai soldati di marciare 'he ordered the
soldiers to march'; comanda l'esercito 'he commands the army'
COMBINARE: hanno combinato d'incontrarsi a1 Museo Britannic0
'they arranged to meet at the British Museum'; hanno combinato deipa-
sticci 'they've got themselves into a mess', hanno combinato un matrimonio
'they have arranged a marriage', hanno combinato un affare 'they did a
deal', non combinano niente 'they don't get anything done'
COMINCIARE: ha cominciato a leggere 'he has begun to read'; ha
corninciato col leggere 'he began by reading', ha corninciato il Iibro 'he has
begun the book', ha corninciato col libro or dal libro 'he began with the
198 Italian Language Today
book', & una parola che comincia per vocale 'it's a word that begins with a
vowel'
COMPIACERSI: si compiace di vestirsi bene 'he takes pleasure in dres-
sing well'; si compiace nel parlare di s&'he enjoys talking about himself', si
compiace della sua posirione 'he is pleased with his position'
CONCEDERE: gli concedo di partire 'I allow him to leave'; gli concedo
una vacanza 'I am allowing him a holiday'
CONDANNARE: lo condanna a tacere 'he condemns him to be silent';
lo condanna a1 silenzio 'he condemns him to silence', lo hanno condannato a
due anniperfurto 'he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for theft'
CONSENTIRE: ha consentito a parlare 'he agreed to speak', ha consen-
tito a venire 'he agreed to come' (he came of his own accord), ha consentito
di venire 'he agreed to come' (he said he would come), questa borsa gli
consentirb di andare a Parigi'this scholarship will enable him to go to Paris';
non posso consentire con voi 'I cdnnot agree with you', ha consentito a1 mio
suggerimento 'he agreed to my suggestion'
CONSIGLIARE: lo consiglio a partire or gli consiglio di partire or gli
consiglio la partenza 'I advise him to leave'
CONTINUARE: continuo a scriuere 'I'm going on writing'; continuo la
lettera 'I'm going on with the letter'
CONTRIBUIRE: contribuisce a renderlo infelice 'it contributes to
making him unhappy'; contribuisce alla sua infelicitb 'it contributes to his
unhappiness'
CONVENIRE: a Ugo conviene (di) partire 'it's better for Ugo to leave',
gli 8 convenuto (di) partire 'it was better for him to leave', ha convenuto di
partire 'he agreed to leave'; a Ugo conviene questo 'this is better for Ugo'
CONVINCERE: lo ha convinto a partire 'he persuaded him to leave', lo
hanno convinto di essere onesti 'they convinced him they were honest'; lo
hanno convinto del suo sbaglio 'they convinced him of his mistake'
COSTRINGERE: l'ha costretto ad accettare 'he forced him to accept';
sono stato costretto a partire 'I was forced to leave'
CREDERE: crede di essere ricco 'he thinks he is rich'; crede tutte le bugie
che gli dicono 'he believes all the lies they tell him', non crede a questo
racconto 'he does not believe this story', non credo nella sua onestd 'I d o not
believe in his honesty', non ci credoCIdo not believe it', non lo credo 'I d o not
think it is true', credo a Ugo ' I believe Ugo', gli credo 'I believe him'
CURARSI: non si cura di nascondersi'he does not trouble to hide'; non si
cura delle apparenre 'he does not care about appearances'
DAR(SI): mi db da fare 'he keeps me busy', gli ha dato ad intendere che
aveva finito 'he gave him to understand that he had finished', non me la db a
bere 'he won't make me swallow that', si diede a cantare (literary) 'he
started to sing' o r 'he took up singing'; ho dato un libro a Ugo 'I gave Ugo a
book', gli do del tu, del lei 'I address him as tu, as lei', gli ho dato del ladro 'I
called him a thief', sit dato a1 canto 'he has taken up singing', questa finestra
dd sul cortile 'this window faces onto the courtyard'
 Prepositions 199
DECIDER(S1): ha deciso di partire 'he decided to leave', si b deciso a
partire 'he has made up his mind to leave' or 'he has finally left'; ha deciso la
data della partenza 'he has fixed the date of departure'
DEGNAR(S1): non si degna di venire 'he does not deign to come'; non mi
ha degnato di un saluto 'he did not even bother to greet me'
DESZDERARE: desidera (di) partire 'he wants to go away'; desidera un
aumento 'he wants a rise'
DESTZNARE: questo t destinato a finire 'this is destined to finish'; b
destinato a1 fallirnento 'it is doomed to failure'
DETERMINARE: ha determinato di vincere 'he has decided to win',
questo mi determina ad accettare 'this makes me decide to accept'; hadeter-
minato la nostra sorte 'it determined our fate'
DZCHZARAR(SZ): ha dichiarato di esserpronto'he stated he was ready';
ha dichiarato le sue intenzioni 'he declared his intentions', si t dichiarato a
favore 'he declared himself in favour'
DZFFZDARE: l'hanno diffidato ad or dall'aumentare i prezzi 'they
warned him not to put up the prices'; diffido di Ugo ' I d o not trust Ugo'
DZMENTZCAR(SI): ha dimenticato (or si b dimenticato) di scrivere 'he
forgot to write'; ha dimenticato (or sib dimenticato) a casa il libro 'he left the
book at home by mistake', ha dimenticato (or si t dimenticato) tutte quelle
date 'he forgot all those dates', si t dimenticato del libro'he forgot about the
book'
DIMOSTRAR(SI): ha dimostrato di saperlo 'he has shown he knows it';
ha dimostrato un teorema 'he has proved a theorem', sib dimostrato abile 'he
has proved skilful'
DIRE: ci dice di venire 'he tells us he is coming' or 'he tells us to come';
dice qualche parola a Ugo 'he is saying a few words to Ugo', dire di sl o di no
'to say yes or no'
DISPERAR(S1): dispera di arrivarci 'he despairs of getting there', si di-
spera di essere in ritardo 'he is very upset at being late'; dispera della vittoria
'he has given up all hope of victory', si dispera del ritardo'he is very upset at
the delay,
DISPZACERE: gli dispiace di non sapere il tedesco 'he is sorry he doesn't
know German'; questo mi dispiace ' I am sorry about this'
DZSPOR(SI): ho disposto dipartire ' I decided to leave', si dispone apartire
'he is preparing to leave'; dispone di grandi ricchezze 'he has great riches at
his disposal', si dispone alla partenza 'he is preparing for his departure', ha
disposto tutto per la partenza 'he has prepared everything for his departure'
DISSUADERE: li ha dissuasi dal bere'he persuaded them not to drink';
li ha dissuasi dal tabacco 'he persuaded them not to smoke'
DZVERTIRSZ: si diverte a giocare 'he enjoys playing'; si diverte agli
scherzi 'he enjoys jokes'
DOMANDARE: le domanda dipartire'he asks her if he can leave' or 'he
asks her to leave'; domanda un favore 'he asks a favour', domanda di te 'he
asks after you'
200 Italian Language Today
DOVERE: deve leggere 'he has to read'; gli deve mille lire 'he owes him
1000 lire'
DUBITARE: dubita di riuscire 'he doubts whether he will succeed';
dubita dell'esito 'he is doubtful about the outcome'
ECCITAR(S1): si eccita a cantare 'he gets excited singing', il suo senso
della giustizia lo eccita a ribellarsi or alla ribellione 'his sense of justice
moves him to rebel' or 'to rebellion'; si eccita alle canzoni 'the songs excite
him'
ESASPERAR(S1): si esaspera di (or ad) esser chiamato Fufi 'it maddens
him to be called Fufi'; la musica lo esaspera 'music exasperates him'
ESCLUDERE: ha escluso di venire 'he has excluded the possibility of
coming'; ha escluso questa ipotesi 'he has ruled out this hypothesis', hanno
escluso quel candidato dalla gara'they have barred that contestant from the
race'
ESERCZTAR(S1): si esercita a correre 'he practises running', si esercita
conendo 'he keeps in practice by running'; si esercita alla corsa, a1 nuoto 'he
practices running, swimming', but with non-sporting activities in is used
instead of a: si esercita nel canto e nel disegno 'he practises singing and
drawing', esercita la professione di avvocato 'he practises the profession of
lawyer', esercitano pressioni su Ugo 'they are exerting pressure on Ugo', lo
hanno esercitato ai combattimenti 'they trained him for battle', questo gioco
esercita la memoria 'this game exercises one's memory'
ESZTARE: esita a entrare 'he hesitates to come in'; esita nell'entrare 'he
hesitates as he comes in', esita nel canto 'he hesitates as he sings'
FARE: fa di venire 'try and come', fa fare un tavolo 'he is having a table
made', far vedere un cieco 'to make a blind man see' or 'to exhibit a blind
man' (cf. chapter VI. 10(c)), questo fa (da) ridere 'this is ridiculous'; faresti
meglio a venire 'you had better come', gli fa piacere (di) venire 'he is pleased
to come', puoi fare a meno di venire 'you needn't bother to come', Ugofa da
mangiare 'Ugo is cooking', Ugo fa la minestra 'Ugo is making the soup',
Ugofa il furbo 'Ugo is trying to be clever', Ugofa il dottore 'Ugo is a doctor'
FZGURARSZ: si figura di essere furbo 'he thinks he is clever'; figurati la
sua soddisfazione 'just imagine his satisfaction'
FINGER(S1): finge di non sentirlo 'he is pretending not to hear him';
finge la sorditci or si finge sordo 'he pretends to be deaf'
FZNZRE: ha finito di scrivere 'he has finished writing', L finito a scrivere
'he has ended up writing', ha finito per scrivere or ha finito collo scrivere solo
due righe 'he has ended up by only writing a note'; ha finito la lettera 'he has
finished the letter', L finito in tragedia 'it ended in a tragedy', Ugo L finito a
Londra 'Ugo ended up in London', /'autostrada finisce a Mestre 'the
motorway ends at Mestre'
FORZARE: lo ha forzato a partire and lo ha forzato alla partenza 'he
forced him to leave'; hanno forzato la porta 'they forced the door'
GIOCAR(S1): giocano a nascondersi 'they are playing hide-and-seek';
giocano a scacchi 'they are playing chess', giocano unapartita di calcio 'they
 Prepositions 201
are playing a game of football', si 2 giocato quel posto 'he has lost that job', ci
giocherei un milione ' I bet you a million'
GZURARE: ha giurato di aiutarlo 'he swore he would help him'; giurd
vendetta 'he swore revenge'
GODER(S1): godo a or di o r nel sentirlo 'I am gratified to hear it'; godo
(di) buona salute ' I enjoy good health', si gode la vita 'he enjoys life'
GUARDAR(S1): guarda di coprirti 'mind you put on some warm
clothes'; guardati dal prender freddo 'mind you don't get cold', guarda lo
spettacolo 'he is watching the show', si guarda a110 specchio 'she is looking at
herself in the mirror', guardati dalle correnti d'aria 'be careful of draughts',
quella finestra guarda sul or verso il (or, less common, nel, or il) giardino
'that window looks onto the garden'
ZLLUDER(S1): si illude di riuscirci 'he has the illusion that he is going to
succeed'; molte speranze lo illudevano 'he nourished vain hopes9,Stailluso
un po' tutti con la sua vivacitd 'everyone was a bit taken in by his liveliness'
IMMAGZNAR(SZ): (s') immagina di esserpovero 'he thinks he is poor';
te la immagini a ballare? 'can you see her dancing?', s'immagina lapovertct
'he imagines what poverty is like', ha immaginato una complessa vicenda
'he thought up a complicated story'
ZMPARARE: impara a leggere 'he is learning to read'; impara l'alfabeto
'he is learning the alphabet', impara a memona una poesia 'he is learning a
poem by heart', I'ho imparato da lui ' I learnt it from him'
ZMPEDIRE: le impedisce di scrivere 'he is preventing her from writing';
gli impedisci il riposo 'you are preventing him from resting'
ZMPEGNAR(SI): si L impegnato a oftener10'he undertook to get it' or 'he
went all out to get it', si t? impegnato di pam're 'he undertook to leave', 2
impegnato a comporre 'he is engaged in composing'; ha impegnato un
capitale 'he has pledged a large sum', questo Iavoro lo impegna molto 'this
work makes heavy demands on him'
ZMPORRE: gli ha imposto di venire 'he ordered him to come'; ci hanno
imposto quest'obbligo 'they imposed this duty on us'
ZNCARZCARE: ha incaricato Ugo di controllare 'he told Ugo to d o the
checking'; lo ha incaricato di questo 'she entrusted this to him'
INCITARE: lo ha incitato a ribellarsi 'he incited him to rebel'; lo ha
incitato alla ribellione 'he incited him to rebellion'
ZNCORAGGIARE: lo ha incoraggiato a studiare 'he encouraged him to
study'; lo ha incoraggiato alla pazienza 'he encouraged him to be patient'
ZNDURRE: lo ha indotto a venire 'he induced him to come'; lo ha indotto
a un delitto 'he induced him to commit a crime'
ZNSEGNARE: gli ha insegnato a leggere 'he taught him to read'; gli ha
insegnato l'alfabeto 'he taught him the alphabet'
ZNSZSTERE: insiste a or nel dire che non t colpa sua 'he insists it is not his
fault', and colloquially insiste may correspond to insiste a dire asin insiste di
non averne colpa 'he insists he is not to blame'; insiste nelle sue richieste 'he
persists with his requests'
202 Italian Language Today
ZEITENDER(SI): intende (di) venirci a trovule 'he intends to come and
see us'; non s'intende di pittura 'he doesn't know anything about painting'
ZNTERESSAR(SZ): non gli interessa (di) vincere 'winning does not
interest him', non s'interessa di riuscire 'success does not interest him', s'in-
teressa solo a guadagnare di pitr 'he is only interested in earning more';
questo libro non lo interessa 'he doesn't find this book interesting', questo
libro non gli interessa 'he is not interested in this book', non s'interessa di
matematica 'mathematics is not his subject', non s'interessa alla matematica
'he is not interested in mathematics', non s'interessa di lui 'he takes no
interest in him', non s'interessa a lui 'he is not interested in him', sib interes-
sat0 per lui 'he concerned himself with his affairs'
ZNVITARE: ha invitato Ada a ballare 'he invited Ada to dance'; li ha
invitati a una festa 'he invited them to a party'
LASCIAR(S1): lo ha lasciato bere 'he let him drink', lo ha lasciato a bere
'he left him drinking', gli hanno lasciato bere una birra 'they let him drink a
beer' (cf. chapter VI. 10(c)), lascia di tormentarlo'stop tormenting him', si b
lasciato imbrogliare 'he let himself be cheated'; lo ha lasciato 'she left him',
gli ha lasciato una bottiglia 'she left him a bottle'
MANCARE: non mancare di andarlo a trovare 'don't fail to go and see
him'; manca di forza 'he lacks strength', gli manca la forza 'his strength is
failing him' or 'he hasn't the strength', ha mancato un'occasione 'he missed
an opportunity', manca ai suoi doveri 'he neglects his duties'
MANDARE: lo manda a far la spesa 'she is sending him to do the shop-
ping', lo manda a chiamare 'he sends for him' (with lo as the object of
chiamare), lo manda a chiamare Ugo'he sends him to fetch Ugo' (with loas
the subject of chiamare); manda Ugo a scuola 'she is sending Ugo to school'
MERAVIGLZARSI: si meraviglia di esserne capace 'he is surprised he
can', si b meravigliato a vederlo 'he marvelled at seeing him'; si b meravi-
gliato a quello spettacolo 'he marvelled at that show', si meraviglia di te 'he is
surprised at you'
MERZTAR(SI): (si) merita di esser promosso 'he deserves to pass'; (si)
merita la promozione 'he deserves a pass'
METTERSI: mi metto a lavorare 'I start working'; mi metro a1 lavoro ' I
start work'
MORZRE: fa morire dal ridere 'it's extremely funny'; muoio dalla fameor
muoio di fame 'I'm dying of hunger'
OBBLIGARE: lo obbliga a partire 'she makes him leave'; 6 stato
obbligato a pagare 'he was forced to pay'; lo obbliga a1 silenzio 'she forces
him to be silent'
OCCUPARSI: si occupa di ordinare la casa 'he is busy tidying the house';
si occupa di orticultura 'he dedicates himself to horticulture'
ODZARE: odia studiare 'he hatesstudying'; odia il lavoro'he hates work'
OFFRIR(SI): ha offerto (or si b offerto) di andare lui 'he offered to go
himself'; ha offerto da bere, da mangiare 'he offered something to drink, to
eat', gli ha offerto un cafft? 'he offered him a coffee'
 Prepositions 203
ORDZNARE: gli ordina di andarsene 'he orders him to go away'; ordina
una birra a1 cameriere 'he orders a beer from the waiter'
OSTZNARSZ: si ostina a non credergli'she insists on not believing him'; si
ostina nel diniego 'he persists in his denial'
PAGARE: ha pagato da bere a tutti 'he offered everyone a drink', ha
pagato il pranzo 'he paid for the meal', ha pagato il cameriere 'he paid the
waiter', ha pagato ilpranzo a1 cameriere 'he paid the waiter for the meal' or
'he bought the waiter a meal'
PARERE: mi pare di soffocare 'I feel I am stifling', pare di soffocare 'one
feels one is stifling', mi pare soffocare 'he seems to me to be stifling', pareva
dormire 'he seemed to be sleeping'; glipare un buon lavoro 'it seems a good
job to him'
PARLARE: parla di cambiare lavoro 'he talks of changing his job'; ha
parlato a Ugodiquestoproblema 'he has spoken to Ugo about this problem',
parlava con Ugo 'he was talking to Ugo', parlava l'italiano 'he could speak
Italian', parlava italiano or in italiano 'he was speaking Italian', parla di
Dante 'he is talking about Dante', parla su Dante 'he is speaking on Dante'
PENSARE: Ugo pensa a guadagnare 'Ugo is thinking about earning',
Ugo pensa di guadagnare 'Ugo thinks he will earn'; pensa a lui 'she thinks of
him', lo pensa 'she thinks of him' or 'she believes so', cosa pensi di questo
libro? 'what d o you think of this book?'
PENTZRSZ: si pente di aver parlato 'he is sorry he spoke'; si t?pentitodi cib
che ha detto 'he regrets what he said'
PERMETTER(S1): mi ha permesso di dipingere 'he allowed me to paint',
non si pewnetta di alzare la voce 'don't you dare raise your voice'; permette
una parola?'could I have a word with you?', non mipossopermetterequesta
spesa 'I cannot afford this expense', si 2 permesso una domanda indiscreta
'he took the liberty of asking an indiscreet question'
PERSZSTERE: persiste a or nel negare 'he persists in denying', persiste
nel rifiuto 'he persists in his refusal'
PERSUADERE: lo ha persuaso a dimettersi 'he has persuaded him to
resign', lo ha persuaso di essere brava 'she persuaded him she was good'; lo
ha persuaso alla ribellione 'he persuaded him to rebel', lo hapersuaso del suo
sbaglio 'he persuaded him of his mistake'
PIACERE: gli piace (di) recitare 'he likes acting', gli piacque (di)
ricordare quell'episodio 'it gave him pleasure to remember that episode'; gli
piacciono le ciliegie 'he likes cherries'
POTERE: pub scrivergli lei? 'can she write to him?'
PREFERIRE: preferisce camminare 'he prefers walking'; preferisce un
gelato 'he prefers an ice-cream', gli fu preferito il suo rivale 'his rival was
preferred to him'
PREGARE: lo prega di ascoltare 'he asks him to listen'; ti prego di un
favore 'I ask a favour of you'
PRENDERE: prese a parlare 'he began talking'; prende un cuff&?'will
you have a coffee?'
204 Italian Language Today
PREPARAR(S1): si prepara a partire 'he is getting ready to leave', si
prepara per partire or per la partenza 'he is getting ready for the journey';
prepara la ualigia 'he is packing his case', si prepara alla partenza 'he is
getting ready for his departure'
PRESTAR(S1): si L prestato a insegnargli il greco 'he agreed to teach him
Greek'; gli presta mille lire 'he lends him 1000 lire', si presta a un malinteso
'it lends itself to a misunderstanding'
PRETENDERE: pretende di comandare 'he thinks he has the right to
command', pretende*di essere obbedito 'he expects to be obeyed'; pretende
l'obbedienza 'he expects obedience'
PROZBZRE: gli ha proibito di fumare and gli ha proibito il tabacco 'he has
forbidden him to smoke'
PROMETTERE: gli ha promesso di comprarglielo 'she promised she
would buy it for him'; mi ha promesso un regalo 'he promised me a present'
PROPOR(S1): gli ha proposto di collaborare 'he suggested he could
collaborate', si propone di fare una lunga vacanza 'he proposes to take a
long holiday'
PROVARE: ha provato a entrare 'he tried to get in', ha provato di essere
innocente 'he proved he was innocent'; proviamo la macchina 'let us try the
car'
PROVVEDERE: prouvedi a spedire questa raccomandata 'make sure
you send this registered letter'; provvede ai suoi bisogni 'he sees to his
needs', provvede i ragazzi di scarpe 'he provides the boys with shoes', prov-
vede le scarpe ai ragazzi 'he provides shoes for the boys'
RACCOMANDARE: ti raccomando di venire 'do try and come'; gli ha
raccomandato Ada 'he asked him to look after Ada', ti raccomando la mac-
china 'be careful with the car'
RALLEGRARSZ: mi rallegro di averlofatto 'I'm pleased I've done it'; mi
rallegro con re della or per la tua promozione 'I congratulate you on your
promotion'
RASSEGNARSZ: mi rassegno ad andarmene ' I am resigned to going';
non si L rassegnato alla pouerrd 'he has not become resigned to poverty'
RZCORDAR(SZ): ricorda di esser fedele a te stesso 'remember to be true
to yourself', ricordati d'impostare 'remember to take it to the post'; ricorda
le sconfitte subite 'he remembers the defeats suffered', ricordati di me
'remember me', ricordami ai tuoi 'remember me to your family', gli ricorda
tuo cugino 'he reminds him of your cousin'
RIDURRE: lo ha idotto a tacere and lo ha ridotto a1 silenzio 'he reduced
him to silence'
RIFIWTARE: rifiuto di collaborare 'I refuse to cooperate'; rifiuto la tua
offerta 'I refuse your offer'
RZNCRESCERE: gli rincresce (di) perdere 'he dislikes losirzg'
RINUNCZARE: rinuncia a fumare and nnuncia a1fumo 'he is giving up
smoking'
RIPRENDERE: ha ripreso a lamentarsi 'he started complaining again';
 Prepositions 205
ha ripreso il discorso 'he went on with what he was saying'
RZSOLVER(SZ): ha risolto di tentare 'he decided to try', si t risolto a
tentare 'he made up his mind to try' or 'he finally tried'; si t risolto in nulla 'it
came to nothing'
RZSPOiVDERE: ha risposto di essere stanco 'he replied that he was tired';
rispondo a re 'I am answering you', rispondo a una lettera 'I am answering a
letter', mi ha risposto due righe 'he dropped me a line in answer', non ri-
spondo delle sue azioni 'I do not answer for his actions'
RZUSCZRE: non sono riuscito ad aprire il baule and non mi t riuscito di
aprire il baule ' I did not manage to open the trunk'; questo mi t riuscito utile
'this turned out to be useful to me'
SAPERE: sa essere duro 'he can be hard', sa di essere duro 'he knows he is
hard'; sa if latino 'he knows Latin', sa di te'he knows about you', sa di tappo
'it tastes of cork'
SBRZGAR(S1): si t sbrigato a finire 'he hurried to finish'; ha sbrigato il
lavoro 'he got through the work quickly'
SCEGLZERE: ha scelto di tacere 'he chose to be silent'; ha scelto if
silenzio 'he chose silence'
SCOMMETTERE: ha scommesso di batterlo 'he bet he would beat him';
ha scommesso una forte somma 'he bet a large sum'
SCUSAR(SZ): mi scuso di essere in ritardo 'I apologize for being late'; mi
scuso del ritardo 'I apologize for the delay', scusa la domanda 'excuse the
question', prega di scusarlo 'he sends his apologies'
SEGUZTARE: scguita a tormentarmi 'he goes on tormenting me';
seguita il lavoro 'he is going on with the work'
SEMBRARE: mi sembra di scivolare 'I feel as though I'm slipping',
sembra di scivolare 'one feels as though one is slipping', mi sembra scivolare
'he seems to me to be slipping'; mi sembra un be1 libro 'it seems a good book
to me'
SENTZR(S1): sento di morire ' I feel I am dying', mi sento morire 'I feel I
am dying' or 'the thought makes me ill',, sento gridare 'I can hear shouting',
lo sento camminare 'I can hear him walking', non mi sento di far questo ' I
don't feel up to doing this'; sento la morte che si avvicina ' I feel death
approaching', sento un rumore ' I hear a noise'
SENTIRSELA: non me la sento di provare 'I do not feel like trying'
SER VZR(S1): serve a (or per) tagliare ifpane 'it is used for cutting bread',
non serve venire 'it is no use coming'; serve a1 governo 'it is of use to the
government', serve i f governo 'he serves the government', gli serve da col-
tello 'he uses it as a knife', si E servito del coltello'he used the knife', gli hanno
servito un vino eccellente 'they gave him an excellent wine'
SFORZARSZ: si sforzava di (or more rarely a) starserio 'he tried hard to
be serious'
SMETTERE: ha smesso di lavorare 'he stopped working'; ha smesso il
lavoro 'he stopped work'
SOFFRZRE: soffre a or di vederla cosi 'it pains him to see her like this';
206 Italian Language Today
soffre il freddo 'he feels the cold', soffre d'insonnia 'he suffers from
insomnia'
SOGNAR(SI): sogna di esser famoso 'he dreams of being famous', non si
t sognato di partire 'he did not dream of leaving'; sogna la gloria 'he dreams
of glory', sogna (or si sogna di) Ada ogni notte 'he dreams of Ada every
night'
SOPPORTARE: non sopporta di essere criticato 'he cannot bear to be
criticized'; non sopporta le critiche 'he cannot bear criticism'
SPARARE: ha sparato una fucilata all'orso'he fired his gun at the bear'
SPERARE: spera di dimagrire 'she hopes to slim'; also spero rivederti
presto ' I hope to see you again soon'; spero in lui ' I place my hopes in him'
SPETTARE: la qecisione spetta a lui or spetta a lui (more rarely with d o
decidere 'it's for him to decide'
SPINGERE: lo spinge a tentare 'he urges him to try'; lo spinge alla rovina
'he drives him to ruin'
STABILZRE: ha stabilito di non bere piri 'he has decided not to drink any
more'; ha stabilito la partenza 'he has fixed his departure'
STARE: sta a sentire un concerto 'he is listening to a concert', sta per
sentire un concerto 'he is about to listen to a concert'; sta a te decidere 'it is up
to you to decide', sta in te vincere 'winning depends on you'
SUGGERZRE: gli suggerisce di non votare 'he suggests to him that he
shouldn't vote'; gli suggerisce una soluzione 'he suggests a solution to him'
SUPPLZCARE: lo ha supplicato di aiutarla 'she begged him to help her';
lo ha supplicato di una grazia 'he begged a favour of him'
TARDARE: tarda a venire 'he is late in coming'
TEMERE: teme di aver la febbre 'he fears he has a temperature', non
teme a or di dire quello chepensa 'he is not afraid of saying what he thinks';
teme le vespe 'he is afraid of wasps'
TENER(C1): (ci) tengo a dichiarare che l'ho fatto io ' I want to make it
clear that I did it', ci tiene a riuscire 'he is keen to succeed'; ci tiene a1 suc-
cesso 'success means a lot to him'
TENTARE: tenterb di aiutarlo ' I shall try to help him', mi ha tentato a
provare 'he tempted me to try'; tenta questa soluzione 'he tries out this solu-
tion', questo lo tenta 'this tempts him'
TOCCARE: cosa gli tocca (di) fare! 'the things he has to do!', mi tocca
(di) vederne delle belle 'fine things I have to witness'; questo non lo tocca 'this
doesn't affect him', tocca a lui'it's his turn', gli t toccata una sberla 'he was
dealt a slap across the face'
TORNARE: torna sempre a dirmi le stesse cose 'he keeps repeating the
same things to me'; toma a1 lavoro 'he is going back to work', torna dal
lavoro 'he is coming back from work', torna alla carica 'he is at it again'
VANTAR(S1): si vanta di essereforte 'he boastsof being strong'; si vanta
della sua forza 'he boasts of his strength', vanta sempre le sue ricchezze 'he is
always boasting about his wealth', questa citth vanta molti illustripittori'this
town boasts many famous painters'
 Prepositions 207
VEDERE: li vedo giocare ' I see them play', w d i di farpresto 'mind you
are quick'; vedo una formica ' I can see an ant'
VENIRE: vengo a prenderti 'I'll come and collect you', sono venuto per
vederti ' I have come in order to see you'; viene a Firenze 'he is coming to
Florence', viene in Ztalia 'he is coming to Italy', viene da Londra 'he comes
from London'
VERGOGNARSZ: si vergogna di non saper nuotare 'he is ashamed he
can't swim', mi uergogno a ripeterlo ' I am ashamed to repeat it'; si vergogna
della sua inefficienza 'he is ashamed of his inefficiency', mi vergogno a
questo spettacolo 'I feel ashamed at this display'
VIETARE: le vieta di parlare 'he forbids her to speak'; le ha vietatol'in-
gresso 'he forbade her to enter'
VOLERE: vuole far soldi 'he wants to make money'; vuole la ricchezza
'he wants riches'

(b) Some constructions with adjective + preposition + verb or

noun. We omit past participles of verbs given in the previous list.
ALZENO: t alieno dallo spettegolare and P alieno dai pettegolezzi
'gossiping is alien to him'
ANSZOSO: P ansioso di ricevere tue notizie 'he is impatient to hear from
you'; P ansioso per l'esito dell'iniziativa 'he is anxious about the outcome of
the enterprise'
AVZDO: t avido di guadagnare molto 'he is greedy to earn a lot', but
more commonly with a noun: P avido di ricchezze 'he is greedy for riches'
CONTENT0 and SCONTENTO: t contento di essere in vacanza 'he is
glad he is on holiday', t scontento delle sue vacanze 'he is not pleased with
his holidays'
CONTRARIO: t contrario a fare il viaggio 'he is against going on the
journey'; t contrario a1 viaggio 'he is against the journey'
CURIOSO: sono curioso di vedere il tuo villaggio'1 am curious to see your
village'; t curioso di tutto 'he is curious about everything'
DECZSO: t deciso ad arricchire 'he is determined to become rich'; t
deciso a tutto 'he stops at nothing'
DESIDEROSO: 6 desideroso di vedere i bambini 'he desires to see the
children'; t desideroso di success0 'he desires success'
DEGNO and INDEGNO: t degno di essere premiato 'he is worthy of
receiving a prize'; t indegno di un premio 'he is unworthy of a prize'
DIFFICILE: t difficile crederlo (less commonly with di) 'it's difficult to
believe it7,t difficile da fare or a farsi (a fare) 'it is difficult to do'
DZSPOSTO: t disposto a dirti tutto 'he is ready to tell you everything'; t
disposto alla partenza 'he is prepared to leave'
FACILE: t facileperdersi (less commonly with di) 'it is easy to get lost', t
facile da fare or a farsi (a fare) 'it is easy to doY;t facile all'ira 'he is quick to
anger'
208 Italian Language Today
GZUSTO and ZNGZUSTO: t giusto (di) fare cosi 'it is right to do this'
GRADEVOLE and SGRADEVOLE: & gradevole da bere 'it's pleasant
to drink' & gradevole stare a1 sole 'it's pleasant to be in the sun'; t sgradevole
a1 tatto 'it's unpleasant to the touch'
IMPORTANTE: t importante (di) ottenere la sua firma and la sua firma 2
importante da ottenere 'it is important to get his signature'
LZETO: sard lieto di accettare 'he'll be glad to accept'; t lieto della notizia
'he is glad of the news'
LONTANO: e lontano dal finire 'he is far from finishing'; t lontano dalla
fine 'he is far from the end'
NECESSARZO: I? necessario (di) prenotare i posti 'it is necessary to book
seats'; t necessario alla riuscita dell'impresa 'it is necessary for the successof
the undertaking'
PRONTO: &prontoapartire 'he is ready to leave', tpronto perpartire 'he is
ready for the journey', le patate sono pronte da cuocere 'the potatoes are
ready to be cooked'; t pronto all'ira 'he is quick to anger', &prontoa tutto 'he
is ready for anything', &prontoper il viaggio 'he is ready for the journey'
SZCURO: 6 sicuro di venire? 'is he sure he'll come?'; 2 sicuro dell'orario?
'is he sure of the timetable?'
UTILE and INUTILE: P utile possedere questa macchina (less commonly
with di) 'it is useful to own this car', questa macchina t inutile da possedere
'it's useless to own this car'

(c) One should note two other points on the use of prepositions: the
first concerns the constructions noun + preposition + noun of the
following type: t una peste di bambino 'he is a wretch of a child', t
una bestia di avvocato 'he is a fool of a lawyer', t stato quell'egoista
del (or di or di un) direttore 'it was that egoist of a director', me l'ha
detto quell'angelo di tua moglie 'that angelic wife of yours toid me',
me l'ha spiegato quel genio di A d a 'that genius of an Ada explained
it to me'. The terms introducing di are evaluative, either expressing
a negative judgement (bestia, egoista, etc.), or used in an ironic o r
jocular way (angelo, genio, etc.) .'
It will be seen that when there is un with the first term there is no
article with the second (which cannot be a proper name), and when
there is quello with the first term there is normally an article with the
second (unless it is rejected by expressions such as tua moglie, etc.,
cf. chapter V. 10).

(d) The second point concerns some prepositions which behave

differently depending on whether they are combined with nouns or
pronouns: contro il or a1 muro 'against the wall', but contro di me
(rarer a me; here and below we put the rarer form in brackets)
 Past participles 209
'against me'; dentro la or alla scatola'in the box', but dentro di noi ( a
noi) 'within ourselves'; dietro la or alla porta 'behind the door', but
dietro di uoi (a uoi) 'behind you'; dopo la lezione 'after the lecture',
but dopo di te 'after you'; fra lepagine 'between the pages', but fra di
noi or fra noi 'between ourselves', and only fra me e te'between you
and me', fra me e lui 'between him and me', etc. (the same for tra);
fuori is followed by di or da both before nouns and pronouns: fuori
dalla scatola 'out of the box', fuori di s t 'beside himself', but there
are a few set expressions in which there is no di in front of a noun:
fuori cittb 'out of town', fuori casa 'not at home'; lungo il o r a1 muro
'along the wall', but lungo di me 'alongside me'; oltre il o r a1 regalo
'as well as the present', but oltre a noi 'as well as us'; presso il or a1
tauolo 'near the table', but presso di noi (a noi) 'near us'; senza i
guanti 'without gloves', but senza di lui (senza lui) 'without him';
sopra il o r a1 tauolo 'on the table', but sopra di noi (a noi) 'above us';
sotto il letto or a1 letrobunderthe bed', but sotto di uoi (a uoi) 'beneath
you'; sul tetto 'on the roof', but su di lui 'on him'; uerso il pozzo
'towards the well', but uerso di me 'towards me'. Any conjunctive
pronoun, in the oblique form, is naturally linked to the verb: corrono
incontro a lei 'they run towards her' corresponds to le corrono
incontro. It would seem that the conjunctive pronoun is only used if
the preposition can be accompanied by a: from corre uerso di lui'he
runs towards him' we cannot get gli corre uerso.

9 Agreement of past participles

(a) When the verb is intransitive the past participle agrees with the
subject if the verb is conjugated with essere: A d a t uenuta 'Ada has
come', Ugo P venuto 'Ugo has come'; when there is more than one
subject the agreement of the past participle follows the same rule as
that of adjectives: Ada e Ugo sono venuti 'Ada and Ugo have come',
Eva e Ada sono venute 'Eva and Ada have come'.
The past participle has an invariable ending -0 if the verb is con-
jugated with auere: A d a ha dormito 'Ada has slept', Ugo ha dormito
'Ugo has slept', A d a e Ugo hanno dormitobAdaand Ugo have slept'.

(b) When there is a noun as direct object (or a preceding relative

pronoun) the past participle usually follows the above rules, but it
may agree with the object (although this is rare): Ugo ha mangiato
or mangiata una pesca 'Ugo has eaten a peach', lapesca che Ugo ha
210 Italian Language Today
mangiato or mangiata era acerba 'the peach that Ugo ate was not
ripe', Ugo si t mangiato or mangiata una pesca 'Ugo has eaten a
peach', la pesca che Ugo si 2 mangiato or mangiata 'the peach that
Ugo has eaten', Ada ha mangiato or mangiati due arancig 'Ada has
eaten two oranges', i due aranci che Ada ha mangiato or mangiati
'the two oranges that Ada has eaten', Ada sit?mangiataor mangiati
due aranci 'Ada has eaten two oranges', i due aranci che Ada si 2
mangiata or mangiati'the two oranges that Ada has eaten'. (For the
si forms see chapter VI. 12.)

(c) When there is a third person pronoun as a preceding direct

object the past participle agrees with it; we give examples first with a
noun and then with a pronoun: Ugo ha mangiato la pesca 'Ugo has
eaten the peach': Ugo l'ha mangiata; Ugo ha mangiato le pesche
'Ugo has eaten the peaches': Ugo le ha mangiate; Ada ha mangiato
l'arancio 'Ada has eaten the orange': Ada lo ha mangiato; Ada ha
mangiato gli aranci 'Ada has eaten the oranges': Ada li ha man-
giati; Ugo si & mangiato una pesca 'Ugo has eaten a peach': Ugo se la
t mangiata; Ugo e Ada si sono mangiati una pesca 'Ugo and Ada
have eaten a peach': Ugo e Ada se la sono mangiata.

(d) When the preceding pronouns are mi, ti, ci, viand ne, one has to
distinguish between their use with a verb taking the auxiliary avere
and a verb taking the auxiliary essere. With transitive verbs and the
auxiliary avere either
(i) there may be no agreement and the past participle will have the
invariable ending in -0: Ugo mi ha visto 'Ugo has seen me', where mi
can refer to a male or female; Ugo vi ha oisto 'Ugo has seen you',
where ui can refer to males or females; hanno bevuto della birra
'they drank some beer': ne hanno bevuto; or
(ii) there may be agreement: with mi and ti the past participle will
end in -0 if the pronoun refers to a man, in -a if it refers to a woman;
with ci and vi it will end in -i if the pronoun refers to men, or men
and women, in -e if it refers to women; with ne the ending will
depend on the gender and number of the noun to which it refers: ci
ha visti 'he has seen us', where ci refers to males, or males and
females; ci ha viste 'he has seen us', where ci refers to females; vi ha
visti 'he has seen you', where vi refers to males, or males and
females; vi ha viste 'he has seen you', where vi refers to females;
hanno bevuto del vino 'they drank some wine': ne hanno bevuto;
 Past participle 21 1
hanno beuuto della birra 'they drank some beer': ne hanno bevuta.
When the verb is preceded by ne and followed by an object, the
agreement of the past participle is compulsory if the object indicates
the gender and number of ne: ne hanno mangiati molti 'they ate
many' (of them, masculine plural), ne hanno beuuta molta 'they
drank a lot' (of it, feminine singular). If the object does not indicate
the gender and number of ne there may either be no agreement: ne
hanno mangiato la metd 'they ate half' (of it, or of them), or there
may be agreement with the object: ne hanno mangiata la metd.

(e) With so-called reflexive (or pronominal) verbs the auxiliary is

essere and the past participle agrees either with the subject or with
the object (as in (b) above): ci siamo beuuti or bevuta una birra 'we
drank a beer'.
If with these pronominal verbs there is a direct object pronoun
which precedes the verb, the past participle must agree with it (as in
(c) above): ce la siamo beuuta 'we drank it'; with ne however the
agreement of the past participle with the partitive pronoun is
optional (as in (d) above), although in this case it is preferred;
corresponding to Ugosi t bevutoor bevuta della birra in abbondanza
'Ugo drank plenty of beer', we have Ugo se ne 2 beuuto or beuuta in
abbondanza; and, with a following object: corresponding to Ada si
2 mangiata or mangiati molti aranci 'Ada ate many oranges', we
have Ada se ne t mangiata or mangiati molti. Note that the prece-
ding direct object pronoun with these verbs can only be in the third
person.
For agreement in the case of impersonal si constructions, see
chapter VI. 12(c).

(f) There is no agreement with ne when it is not a partitive: hanno

seguito la lezione e ne hanno discusso (invariable ending in -0) 'they
followed the lecture and talked about it', Ugo ha visto Ada e se ne t
innamorato (agreement with the subject) 'Ugo saw Ada and fell in
love with her'.
The same rules apply to the agreement of the past participle when
a modal verb is used, i.e., potut- bere, volut- bere, etc., instead of
beuut-.
212 Italian Language Today

10 Clitic clusters
(a) We shall start with a brief account of the most common cases.
The clitic clusters most used belong to the following types:
(i) a dative in the first, second, or third person (including
reflexives) or a locative, followed by an accusative in the third
person, or by ne: me lo, te lo, glielo, se lo, ce lo, ve lo; me ne, te ne,
gliene, se ne, ce ne, ve ne;
(ii) impersonal si precedes ne and follows all other clitics: se ne
parla 'one speaks of it', quando gli si parla non risponde 'when one
speaks to him he doesn't answer', lo si vede spesso 'one often sees
him'.
(b) Many other clusters are also possible, although less common.
There are eleven distinct forms of clitics: ci, gli, la, le, li, lo, mi, ne,
si, ti, vi; as we have noted in chapter V. 9(d), before a clitic starting
with 1 o r n, the final i of the preceding clitic changes to e, and the
two datives le and gli both become glie. Many of these eleven forms
represent different pronouns: for example le is both dative singular
and accusative plural; ci is both first person plural and locative, etc.
There are fifty-eight possible clusters with two clitics and they obey
the order indicated in the following t e m ~ l a t e :1~ mi; 2 gli, le
(dative); 3 vi; 4 ti; 5 ci; 6 si (reflexive); 7 lo, la, li, le
(accusative); 8 si (impersonal); 9 ne.
It is possible to have all combinations of two clitics in the order
from 1 to 9, with the provisos that follow:
(i) me le is only interpreted as 1 + 7, and not as 1 + 2: me le
presentano can only mean 'they introduce them to me', and not
'they introduce me to her', which could be rendered as mi
presentano a lei, lepresentano me, or presentano me a lei, depending
on the circumstances;
(ii) cluster 7 +9 is impossible; the combination of ne with the
accusative appears only in certain varieties of Italian, and then only
+
as 9 7: ne lo trasse 'he pulled it out from there'; ne lo liberava 'he
was freeing him from itY,etc.;
(iii) combinations with identical clitics are avoided: vi ci ha
mandato means both 'he sent you there' and 'he sent us there', as
both vi vi ha mandato and ci ci ha mandato are not usable; the
combination 6 + 8 does not produce si si, but ci si: quando ci si
 Conjunctive pronouns 213
sveglia presto, ci si alza volentieri 'when one wakes up early, one
gets up willingly';
(iv) clusters of clitics in the same case are avoided: two accusatives
are excluded, but two datives are possible if they are originally
governed by different predicates (tua madre mi gli fece scrivere la
lettera di dimissioni1° 'your mother made me write him my letter of
resignation'), or if one of the clitics is an ethic dative (mi gli scrivi
questa lettera? 'would you write him this letter for me?');
(v) clusters are avoided in which the referent of one of the clitics
includes the referent of another: one cannot use vi ti affido for
affido te a voi ' I entrust you (singular) to you (plural)';
(vi) in clusters where for each pronoun the clitic dative and
accusative, reflexive and non-reflexive forms are identical (e.g., mi
'me', 'myself', 'to me', 'to myself'), the reflexive is interpreted as an
accusative and not as a dative: ci si avvicina means 'he brings
himself near to us' and not 'he brings us near to himself' (apart from
other readings which are here irrelevant, like 'one is approaching',
etc.).

(c) Clusters with more than two clitics must be open to an analysis
into two-element clusters, obeying the order indicated by the
template. With three elements it is not uncommon to meet forms
like gli ce ne volle del bello e del buono 'it cost him a great effort', gli
se ne attacca un po' 'a little sticks to him', glielo si vede scritto in
faccia 'one can see it written all over his face', etc. Clusters with
four or more clitics are less common, because they are ungainly and
unclear, rather than because they are ungrammatical.
Clitics refer to things which are known, which have already been
mentioned, and it is unlikely that one would want to introduce so
many known elements into one sentence. But it is in fact possible to
create one, which is undoubtedly monstrous and unusable, but
apparently not ungrammatical, including a cluster with nine clitics,
one for each of the places listed in the template: mil gliz vi3 ti4 ci, ce6
lo, seg ne9 prende, which could correspond to a sentence like per
m e l , a Roma3, unog si6 prende, invece di te4, a nome nostro,, il
registratore, per Giorgioz dal magazzino9. We do not need to add
that we do not advise any reader to use such a sentence in real life."

(d) In certain fixed expressions like cavarsela 'to cope', sentirsela 'to
feel up to', the pronominal clusters may be treated as a unit and
214 Italian Language Today
consequently be linked with other pronouns to form combinations
which do not follow the sequence given above: ci se la cava 'one can
cope' vs. ce la si cava 'one takes it off', as in se fa caldo, ce la si cava,
la giacca 'if it's hot, one takes off one's jacket', and ci se la sente
'one feels up to it' vs. ce la si sente 'one feels it', as in ce la si sente
pesare addosso, la giacca, quando fa caldo 'one feels one's jacket
weighing on one, when it's hot'.

11 Constructions with causative and percep-

tion predicates
(a) Causatives
We shall examine here the behaviour of pronouns, compared with
that of nouns, in certain verb + infinitive constructions.12 We shall
first look at fare 'to make' followed by an infinitive (lasciare 'to
let' behaves like fare), and call this the causative construction. A
series of examples will be listed, based, for the sake of simplicity,
only on the interpretation faccio + Ada scrive una lettera a Ugo 'I
make + Ada writes a letter to Ugo'; all other interpretations are
disregarded: for instance, gliela faccio scrivere a Ada is spontane-
ously interpreted as 'I make him write it to Ada', but in our list it
appears, in (7.g), only with its more forced interpretation 'I make
Ada write it to him'. Here, as in section (b) below, the examples are
ordered as follows: seven sentences are given, numbered from (1)
to (7), with nouns for the (1) subject, (2) direct object, (3) indirect
object, (4) subject and direct object, (5) direct object and indirect
object, (6) subject and indirect object, (7) subject, direct object and
indirect object. For each of these sentences we substitute the nouns
with clitic pronouns and mark the resulting sentences with a letter
(a, b, c, etc.) added to the original number. Forms which are felt to
be grammatical but awkward are put in brackets. We use the names
of the cases as follows: 'accusative' for the forms without a
preposition (lui, lei; clitics: lo, la); 'dative' for the forms preceded
by a (a lui, a lei; clitics: gli, le); 'agentive' for the forms preceded by
da (da lui, da lei; no clitic counterpart).
(1) faccio scrivere Ada; (1.a) la faccio scrivere.
(2) faccio scrivere una lettera; (2.a) la faccio scrivere.
(3) faccio scrivere a Ugo; (3.a) gli faccio scrivere.
(4)(I) faccio scrivere una lettera a Ada, or (11) faccio scrivere una
lettera da Ada; (4.a) le faccio scrivere una lettera; (4.b) la
 Conjunctive pronouns 215
faccio scrivere a Ada; (4.c) la faccio scrivere da Ada;
(4.d) gliela faccio scrivere.
(5) faccio scrivere una lettera a Ugo; (5.a) la faccio scrivere a
Ugo; (5. b) gli faccio scrivere una lettera; (5.c) gliela faccio
scrivere.
(6)(I) faccio scrivere Ada a Ugo, or (11) Cfaccio scrivere a Ugo, a
Ada), or (111) faccio scrivere a Ugo da Ada; (6.a) la faccio
scrivere a Ugo; (6.b) (le faccio scrivere a Ugo); (6.c) (gli faccio
scrivere Ada); (6.d) (gli faccio scrivere a Ada); (6. e) gli faccio
scrivere da Ada.
(7)(I) faccio scrivere a Ada una lettera a Ugo, or (11) faccio
scrivere una lettera a Ugo da Ada; (7.a) le faccio scrivere una
lettera a Ugo; (7.b) la faccio scrivere a Ugo, a Ada; (7.c) la
faccio scrivere a Ugo da Ada; (7.d) (gli faccio scrivere una
lettera a Ada); (7.e) gli faccio scrivere una lettera da Ada;
(7.f) gliela faccio scrivere a Ugo; (7.g) (gliela faccio scrivere a
Ada); (7.h) gliela faccio scrivere da Ada.

The situation can be described as follows: in the causative

construction the subject of the infinitive appears
(i) as an accusative if there is no direct or indirect object;
(ii) as an accusative or agentive if there is an indirect object but no
direct object expressed or understood;
(iii) as a dative or agentive if a direct object is expressed or under-
stood; an indirect object may be present, as in (6) and (7), or absent,
as in (4); in (6.11), (6.b), (6.d) the subject in the dative is acceptable
if the sentences are taken as having an understood direct object, i.e.,
if scrivere a Ugo is interpreted, for instance, as 'writing a letter to
Ugo'.
As for the choice of accusative, dative or agentive, where a choice
is possible, it would seem to depend on conditions which will be
summarized in (c).
The stressed forms usually follow the infinitive in this order:
accusative, dative, agentive. Two stressed forms in the same case
are avoided; two accusatives (for subject and direct object) are ex-
cluded, and two datives (for subject and indirect object) are awk-
ward; these are separated at least by an intonational break, as in
(6.11), or by some other element, as in (7.1); the dative subject may
go immediately after the infinitive, as in (7.1), or after the indirect
object, as in faccio scrivere una lettera a Ugo, a Ada, or before the
main verb, as in a Ada, faccio scrivere una lettera a Ugo. Two datives
216 Italian Language Today
are quite acceptable if the subject is a clitic and the indirect object a
stressed form, as in (7.a).
The clitics are always attached to fare; a clitic subject cannot be
preceded by a clitic direct or indirect object; the only cluster is
dative + accusative, which therefore cannot represent indirect
object + subject: we find it in our list representing either
subject +direct object, as in (4.d) and (7.f), or indirect
object + direct object, as in (5.c), (7.g), and (7.h).
When the object of the infinitive is introduced by a preposition, as
in pensare a 'to think of', provvedere a 'to take care of', rinunciare a
'to give up', abusare di 'to abuse', sospettare di'to suspect', discutere
di 'to discuss', the subject may appear as a dative (as when the verb
has a direct object), as an accusative (as .when the verb has no direct
object), or as an agentive (as when the verb has a direct or indirect
object); from faccio + Ada parla di questo 'I make + Ada talks of
this' we get:
(8)(I) faccio parlare Ada di questo, or (11) faccio parlare di
questo a Ada, or (111) faccio parlare di questo da Ada; (8.a) la
faccio parlare di questo; (8.b) le faccio parlare di questo;
(8.c) ne faccio parlare Ada; (8.d) ne faccio parlare a Ada;
(8.e) ne faccio parlare da Ada; (8.f) gliene faccio parlare.

(b) Perception predicates

With verbs of perception (vedere 'to see', sentire 'to hear') followed
by an infinitive the situation is more varied. Using the same criteria
as above, we shall list the following sentences, interpreted only on
+
the basis of ho visto Ada scrive una lettera a Ugo 'I saw Ada +
writes a letter to Ugo':
(l)(I) ho visto Ada scrivere, or (11) ho visto scrivere Ada;
(1.a) la ho vista scrivere.
(2) ho visto scrivere una lettera; (2.a) la ho vista scrivere;
(2. b) (ho visto scriverla) .
(3) ho visto scrivere a Ugo; (3.a) gli ho visto scrivere; (3.b) (ho
visto scrivergli).
(4)(I) ho visto Ada scrivere una lettera, or (11) (ho visto scrivere
una lettera a Ada), or (111) (ho visto scrivere una lettera da Ada);
(4.a) la ho vista scrivere una lettera; (4.b) le ho visto scrivere
una lettera; (4.c) (la ho vista scrivere Ada); (4.d) (ho visto
scriverla Ada); (4.e) ho visto Ada scriverla; (4.f) la ho vista
 Conjunctive pronouns 217
scrivere a A d a ; (4.g) ( h o visto scriverla a A d a ) ; (4.h) la h o
vista scrivere da A d a ; (4.i) ( h o visto scriverla da A d a ) ; ( 4 .j ) (la
h o vista scriverla); ( 4 . k ) gliela h o vista scrivere.
( 5 ) h o visto scrivere una lettera a Ugo; (5.a) la h o vista scrivere a
Ugo ; (5.b ) ( h o visto scriverla a Ugo); (5.c) gli h o visto scrivere
una lettera; (5.d) ( h o visto scrivergli una lettera); (5.e) gliela
h o vista scrivere; (5.f ) ( h o visto scrivergliela).
( 6 ) ( I ) h o visto A d a scrivere a Ugo, or (11) ( h o visto scrivere a
Ugo, a A d a ) , or (111) ( h o visto scrivere a Ugo da A d a ) ; (6.a) la
h o vista scrivere a Ugo; (6.b) (le h o visto scrivere a Ugo);
(6.c) (gli h o visto scrivere A d a ) ; (6.d) ( h o visto scrivergli
A d a ) ; (6.e) h o visto Ada scrivergli; ( 6 . f ) (gli h o visto scrivere a
A d a ) ; (6.g) ( h o visto scrivergli a A d a ) ; (6.h) (gli h o visto
scrivere da A d a ) ; (6.i) ( h o visto scrivergli da A d a ) ; (6.j) (la h o
vista scrivergli).
( 7 ) ( I ) h o visto A d a scrivere una lettera a Ugo, or (11) ( h o visto
scrivere una lettera a Ugo, a A d a ) , or (111) h o visto scrivere una
lettera a Ugo da A d a ; (7.a) la h o vista scrivere una lettera a Ugo;
(7.b) le h o visto scrivere una lettera a Ugo; (7.c) (la h o vista
scrivere a Ugo A d a ) ; (7.d) ( h o visto scriverla a Ugo A d a ) ;
(7.e) h o visto A d a scriverla a Ugo; ( 7 . f ) (la h o vista scrivere a
Ugo, a A d a ) ; (7.g) ( h o visto scriverla a Ugo, a A d a ) ; (7.h) la
h o vista scrivere a Ugo da A d a ; (7.i) ( h o visto scriverla a Ugo da
A d a ) ; (7.j) (gli h o visto scrivere una lettera A d a ) ; ( 7 . k ) ( h o
visto scrivergli una lettera A d a ) ; (7.1) h o visto A d a scrivergli una
lettera; ( 7 . m ) (gli h o visto scrivere una lettera a A d a ) ; (7.n) ( h o
visto scrivergli una lettera a A d a ) ; (7.0) gli h o visto scrivere una
lettera da A d a ; (7.p) ( h o visto scrivergli una lettera da A d a ) ;
(7.q) (la h o vista scriverla a Ugo); (7.r) gliela h o vista scrivere
a Ugo; (7.s) (gliela h o vista scrivere A d a ) ; (7.t) ( h o visto
scrivergliela A d a ) ; (7.u) h o visto Ada scrivergliela; (7.v) (glie-
la h o vista scrivere a A d a ) ; (7.w) ( h o visto scrivergliela a A d a ) ;
(7.x) gliela h o vista scrivere da A d a ; (7.y) ( h o visto scriverglie-
la da A d a ) ; (7.2) la h o vista scrivergli una lettera; (7.za) (la h o
vista scrivergliela) .

A s m a y be gathered f r o m these examples, t h e subject of t h e infini-

tive m a y always appear as an accusative, not only w h e n there are n o
direct and indirect objects, but e v e n i f these are present (as accusa-
tive and dative respectively). T h e subject m a y also, as i n t h e causa-
tive construction, appear as a dative or agentive i f there is a direct
218 Italian Language Today
object (expressed or understood) and/or an indirect object; but
when there is already a dative for the indirect object, one tends to
avoid the dative for the subject. In (6.11), (6.b), ( 6 4 , and (6.g) the
subject in the dative is acceptable if the sentences are taken as
having an understood direct object. As with the causative construc-
tion, the choice of one among these cases would seem to depend on
conditions which are summarized in (b)(ii).
The stressed form of the subject normally precedes the infinitive
if it is in the accusative and there is a direct and/or an indirect object,
as in (4), (6), and (7); otherwise it may follow or precede the infini-
tive, as in (1). After the infinitive the order is accusative, dative,
agentive.
Two accusatives, for subject and direct object, which were ex-
cluded in the causative construction, are quite acceptable here, as in
(4) and (7), and the preferred order is with the subject before and
the direct object after the infinitive. Two datives, for subject and
indirect object, are awkward, and tend to be separated by an intona-
tion break; the subject may go after the indirect object, as in (6.11),
(7.11), or after the infinitive, as in ho visto scrivere, a Ada, una lettera
a Ugo, or before the main verb, as in a Ada, ho visto scrivere una
lettera a Ugo; all these sentences are awkward, but two datives
become quite acceptable if the subject is a clitic and the indirect
object a stressed form, as in (7.b).
The clitics behave differently depending on their syntactic func-
tion: the subject, in the dative or accusative, must come before the
direct or indirect object, and must be attached to the main verb; the
direct and indirect objects, in the accusative and dative, may be
attached either to the main verb, or, more awkwardly, to the infini-
tive; if the subject is in the accusative, as we cannot have
accusative + accusative and accusative + dative clusters, the direct
and indirect objects must go with the infinitive, as in (4.j), (6.j),
(7.q), (7.z), and (7.za); from a different point of view one can say
that if the direct object goes with the main verb, the subject must be
in the dative, as in (4.k) and (7.r); and we cannot have both subject
and indirect object with the main verb, because there is no
dative + dative or accusative + dative cluster; the only existing
cluster, i.e., dative + accusative, can be interpreted either as
subject +direct object, as in (4.k) and (7.r), or as indirect
object + direct object, as in (5.e), (7.s), (7.v), and (7.x), but not as
 Conjunctive pronouns 219
indirect object + subject. Note that as an indirect object + direct
object this cluster may go either with the main verb or with the
infinitive, but as a subject +direct object it can only go with the
main verb and not with the infinitive. The cluster cannot be split, so
for (4.k) we cannot have le ho visto scriverla, and for (5.e) we cannot
have gli ho visto scnverla; if we want to separate the clitics we get
(4.j) and (7.q) with accusative - accusative, or (6.j) and (7.2) with
-
accusative dative. The only combination of three clitics is found in
(7.za) with accusative - dative + accusative, representing subject -
indirect object + direct object. This combination would appear to
be the only one possible, considering that the subject must come
first and that combinations with two datives and clusters with the
order accusative + dative are excluded.
The choice of the dative for the subject is much more awkward
with verbs like guardare 'to watch', ascoltare 'to listen to' than it is
with vedere, sentire: le ho guardato scrivere una lettera 'I watched her
write a letter', le ho ascoltato cantare una canzone 'I listened to her
sing a song' are less acceptable than le ho visto scrivere una lettera 'I
saw her write a letter', le ho sentito cantare una canzone 'I heard her
sing a song'; the corresponding sentences with la instead of le would
be equally acceptable with guardare, ascoltare and with vedere,
sentire.
When the object of the infinitive is introduced by a preposition
the situation corresponds to the one mentioned above for the causa-
tive construction; from ho sentito + Ada parla di questo 'I
heard + Ada speaks of this' we get:
(8)(I) ho sentito Adaparlare di questo, or (11) (ho sentito parlare
di questo a Ada), or (111) ho sentito parlare di questo da Ada;
(8.a) la ho sentita parlare di questo; (8.b) le ho sentito parlare
di questo; (8.c) (ne ho sentito parlare Ada); (8.d) (ho sentito
parlarne Ada); (8.e) ho sentito Ada parlarne; (8.f) (ne ho
sentito parlare a Ada); (8.g) (ho sentito parlarne a Ada);
(8.h) ne ho sentito parlare da Ada; (8.i) (ho sentito parlarne da
Ada); (8.j) la ho sentita parlarne; (8.k) gliene ho sentito
parlare.
(c) We can present the following general considerations, which
apply both to causative and to perception constructions: the subject
of the infinitive can be
(i) accusative, if the infinitive has no direct or indirect objects,
(ii) accusative, dative, or agentive, if the infinitive has direct and/or
220 Italian Language Today
indirect objects; the choice of one among these three cases depends
on two conditions:
(A) the so-called 'like case constraint' which prevents the subject of
the infinitive from appearing in a case already used with that infini-
tive, i.e., from being an accusative if there is a direct object of the
infinitive, and from being a dative if there is an indirect object of the
infinitive. Note however that the restriction against two accusatives
is absolute with the causative construction, but does not apply to the
perception construction; this may suggest that we identify only one
predicate in the causative construction, and two in the perception
construction where the subject accusative is governed by the main
verb and the direct object accusative is governed by the infinitive.
The restriction against two datives is relaxed in many cases, particu-
larly if the two datives are separated at least by an intonation break,
and if the subject of the infinitive is a dative clitic and the indirect
object a noun;
(B) the semantic values associated with the three constructions:
with an accusative subject the action is seen as a continuing process,
with a dative it is seen as completed; the dative suggests also the
unexpectedness of the action and the involvement of the main verb
subject with the action indicated by the infinitive; with an agentive
subject the attention is focussed on the object of the infinitive. We
can try to convey some of these distinctions with the following
English translations: la ho uista scriuere uno lettera 'I saw her writing
a letter'; le ho visto scriuere una lettera ' I saw her write a letter'; la ho
uista scriuere d a lei 'I saw it being written by her'.

12 The use of si
(a) Concerning reflexives
Si is the unstressed form of the third person reflexive personal pro-
noun singular and plural, both direct and indirect. Like the other
reflexive pronouns it can be reciprocal in the plural: ci scriviamo
spesso 'we often write to each other', ui scriuete spesso 'you often
write to each other', si scrivono spesso 'they often write to each
other'.
Examples: A d a si guarda a110 specchio (direct si) 'Ada looks at
herself in the mirror', A d a si guarda le unghie (indirect si) 'Ada
looks at her nails'.
 The use of si 221
(i) The reflexive pronoun is used in Italian when the subject per-
forms the action on himself (or on articles of clothing he is wearing,
or objects he is carrying on him or with him), treating himself as an
object: si gratta la gamba 'he scratches his leg', si taglia i capelli 'he
cuts his hair', si tocca la crauatta 'he touches his tie'. The same action
can be performed on someone else with the appropriate change of
pronoun: mi gratta la gamba 'he scratches my leg', ti taglia i capelli
'he cuts your hair', gli tocca la crauatta 'shc touches his tie'. If there
is no pronoun the object is presented as separate from its owner:
gratta la gamba (which is being sculpted for a statue), taglia i capelli
(a barber does this, to hair in general), tocca la crauatta (which is on
the table).
There is consequently a difference between the ethic dative of si
fa il caffc?'he is making himself some coffee' and the reflexive dative
of si tocca la crauatta. A sentence like si pulisce le scarpe 'he cleans
his shoes' is from this point of view ambiguous: he may be cleaning
his shoes before putting them on (ethic dative), or he may be
cleaning the shoes he has on (reflexive dative). This becomes appar-
ent in cases where the ethic dative is not likely to be used like si tocca
una scarpa 'he touches his shoe' (if he has it on), but tocca una
scarpa 'he touches a shoe' (even if it is his own, when it is not on his
foot).
(ii) The presence vs. absence of the reflexive may have another
function, as in Ada si guarda le unghie 'Ada looks at her nails' vs.
Ada apre gli occhi 'Ada opens her eyes'. In both cases the English
equivalent introduces the possessive: 'her nails', 'her eyes'. In
Italian however the reflexive is not used when the subject performs
an action in which he alone is involved but does not treat himself as
an object; the action is accomplished, so to speak, from within: apre
gli occhi 'he opens his eyes', muoue la testa 'he moves his head', alza
un piede 'he lifts his foot'. Here again in English the possessive is
used; in Italian the use of the reflexive (si apre gli occhi, si muoue la
testa, si alza unpiede) weald put these sentences within the previous
category, implying that it is with his hands that the subject is
opening his eyes, moving his head, lifting his foot.
If the action concerns the subject as a whole and not only a part of
him, then the reflexive pronoun is used for the same kind of action
'from within': mi sveglio 'I wake up', mi alzo 'I get up', mi muovo 'I
move'. If the object is a different person, the action becomes 'from
without', as in ti sueglio 'I wake you1. Consequently one has the
222 Italian Language Today
same type of action from within in apre gli occhi, mi sveglio, the same
kind of action from without in si apre gli occhi (i.e., with his hands), ti
sueglio. The difference between the two kinds of action is apparent
in mi alzo, ti alzi (action from within) 'I get up', 'you get up', and ti
alzo, mi alzi (action from without) 'I lift you up', 'you lift me up'.
(iii) When reflexive verbs are constructed with fare 'to make', la-
sciare 'to let', the reflexive pronoun is eliminated even in cases in
which the verb is never otherwise used without it: ho visto Ugo
alzarsi 'I saw Ugo get up': l'ho visto alzarsi, but ho fattopentire Ugo
'I made Ugo repent': l'ho fatto pentire. Consequently ho fatto alzare
Ugo, l'ho fatto alzare, are ambiguous: they may mean 'I made Ugo
get up' (out of context the most likely interpretation), or 'I had Ugo
lifted up' (cf. chapter V. 9(d)).
This applies to verbs which are inherently reflexive (like pentirsi
'to repent'), or which have an intransitive value (like alzarsi 'to get
up'); it does not apply where the reflexive has the role of a real
object and can be substituted by a stressed pronoun: from Ugo si
ammira (= Ugo ammira se stesso) 'Ugo admires himself', we cannot
get faccio ammirare Ugo in the sense of 'I make Ugo admire
himself' (the sentence can, of course, mean 'I make Ugo be
admired'). Here the construction with fare + infinitive is blocked,
and one would have to use a different one like faccio che si ammiri.
With a perception main predicate, on the other hand, we can have
vedo Ugo pentirsi, vedo Ugo alzarsi, vedo Ugo ammirarsi 'I see Ugo
repent, I see Ugo get up, I see Ugo admire himself'.
There are two other constructions with si in Italian: the imper-
sonal one as in si parte alle dieci 'one leaves at ten', and the passive
one as in questo giornale si legge con piacere 'this paper is read with
pleasure', which is normally used when the agent is not expressed
(but in rare cases the agent may be present: questo giornale si legge
ogni mattina da moltissima gente 'this paper is read every morning
by lots of people').13

(b) Passive si
The passive without si is expressed by the auxiliary essere and a past
participle: active uede 'he sees', passive t visto 'he is seen' (see
chapter V. 16(r)). The passive, especially when the agent is not
expressed, can be conveyed by si and the active form of the verb: si
uede 'he is seen'. This applies to third persons singular and plural, to
the gerund, to the past participle (used on its own), and to the infini-
 The use of si 223
tive: si vedono, vedendosi, uedutosi, vedersi.
There is agreement in number between the verb and the subject
of the passive: si vede una stella 'a star is seen', si vedono due stelle
'two stars are seen'.
In compound tenses the auxiliary avere is changed to essere, fol-
lowing the general rule that all pronominal verbs take the auxiliary
essere, whatever the function of the pronoun: auxiliary avere in ho
bevuto una birra, but auxiliary essere in mi sono bevuto una birra 'I
drank a beer'. Examples: active ha visto Ugo 'he has seen Ugo',
passive si t visto Ugo 'Ugo has been seen'; active avrd visto Ugo 'he
will have seen Ugo', passive si surd visto Ugo 'Ugo will have been
seen'.
In compound tenses there is also agreement in gender and
number in the past participle: si c? vista una stella 'a star has been
seen', si sono viste due stelle 'two stars have been seen'.

(c) Impersonal si
Si is also used in impersonal constructions, when the agent is indefi-
nite. For practical purposes it may be useful to think of this si as
corresponding to English one and to French on (a reduced form
from Latin homo, parallel to Old Italian uom which was often simi-
larly used as an indefinite subject): si ua 'one goes', French 'on va'.
But unlike one and on this impersonal si is historically connected
with the si of the reflexive and passive constructions.
It must be remembered that si corresponds to 'one' used as sub-
ject, but, unlike 'one', it cannot be used as direct or indirect object;
ci 'us', ti 'you', uno 'one', qualcuno 'someone' are used instead: se ti
prendono t finita may mean 'if they catch one, it's all over'. If in the
same sentence there is an impersonal si, then ci is used as the object:
si t contenti se ci scrivono 'one is pleased if they write to one'.
A si construction can often be interpreted either as passive or as
impersonal: si vede may correspond to a passive t visto'is seen' or to
an impersonal uno vede 'one sees'. With the impersonal construc-
tion one finds an unexpected agreement in number between the
verb and the object: si compra una penna 'one buys a pen', si com-
prano due penne 'one buys two pens'.14
In compound tenses the past participle has a masculine singular
ending when the verb takes the auxiliary avere in a non-siconstruc-
tion and a masculine plural ending when the verb takes the auxiliary
essere in a non-si construction. The auxiliary actually used with a si
224 Italian Language Today
construction is always essere, conforming with the rule mentioned
above: si t Iauorato 'one has worked' (lauorato because lauorare
otherwise takes the auxiliary auere: uno ha lauorato), si tpartiti'one
has left' (partiti because partire always takes the auxiliary essere: uno
2 partito). The masculine plural ending is compulsory for adjectives
appearing as a predicate in a si construction: si t allegri 'one is
merry'. Note that si t allegri is present whilst si t partiti is past.
The -i ending may be used even by women speakers, but when a
feminine noun is introduced there is agreement with it: si t sfruttati
'one is exploited', but quando si t donne si t sfruttate 'when one is a
woman one is exploited'. Normally the noun is in the plural; it can
be in the singular, however, when it refers to a position unique in the
context, and in this case an adjective or past participle would end in
-i: quando si t la prima attrice si t priuilegiati 'when one is the leading
lady one has privileges'.
The impersonal si construction can be used with passive verbs
which, as they take the auxiliary essere, have an -i in the past parti-
ciple: si t lodati 'one is praised'.
The difference between the endings of the past participles may be
the only element which distinguishes sentences with difterent
meanings: si t capiti 'one is understood' (impersonal of the present
passive) vs. si t capito 'one has understood' (impersonal of the per-
fect active).
The agreement mentioned above between verb and object is
extended in compound tenses to gender as well as number: s i t com-
prata una penna 'one has bought a pen', si sono comprate due penne
'one has bought two pens'.
Some grammars present only one indefinite construction with si,
without distinguishing an impersonal and a passive construction.
The superficial identity of the two constructions should not however
obscure their difference at a deeper level: whilst si compra una
penna may have the same origin at a deeper level as uno compra una
penna or as una penna t comprata, and is therefore ambiguous as to
its passive or impersonal interpretation, in other cases there is no
ambiguity and only one of the two interpretations is possible.
With intransitives there can obviously not be a passive interpreta-
tion: si ua 'one goes' must be impersonal; when the agent preceded
by da is expressed (as is possible, although very rare) a si construc-
tion cannot be impersonal and must be interpreted as passive: que-
st'opera si accoglie con entusiasmo da tutti 'this work is enthusiasti-
cally acclaimed by all'.
 The use of si 225
In constructions with modals, as in questo si prtb capire facilmente
the passive interpretation 'this can easily be understood' allows the
si to be shifted after the infinitive: questo pub capirsi facilmente,
where capirsi has the meaning of essere capito; but this shift cannot
occur with the impersonal interpretation 'one can easily understand
this'.
The respective position of the noun phrase and the verb phrase
may also make one of the interpretations preferable though not
compulsory: non si pub sempre dire la veritd is more readily inter-
preted as impersonal 'one cannot always tell the truth', whereas la
veritd non si pub sempre dire is more readily interpreted as passive
'the truth cannot always be told'.
The sentences already quoted si comprano due penne, si t com-
prata una penna, si sono comprate due penne can be expressed in
their impersonal interpretation only, and not in their passive
interpretation, in the (admittedly far less common) forms sicompra
due penne, si t comprato una penna, si t comprato due penne respec-
tively, without agreement of gender or number between the verb
and the object. Also possible, but not common, is the form with the
agreement of the past participle, but not of the auxiliary, with the
object: si t comprate due penne.
With pronominal verbs such as pentirsi 'to repent', comprarsi
'to buy (for oneself)', lavarsi 'to wash (oneself)', the impersonal si
should be added to the third person singular siof sipente, si compra,
si lava. However, instead of si si, the form used is ci si: ci sipente 'one
repents', ci si compra 'one buys for oneself', ci si lava 'one washes
oneself'. Constructions in which an impersonal si should be added
to a ci si are avoided; as can be seen from chapter VI. 10, in uno si
avvicina a noi 'one approaches us' the unocannot be changed into si
and at the same time the a noi into ci; one either has to say uno ci si
avvicina or ci si avvicina a noi. In uno si avvicina a quel posto 'one
approaches that place', uno can be changed into the impersonal si
and a quel posto into a locative unstressed pronoun only if it is vi
and not ci: vi ci si avvicina 'one approaches it'.
When there is an object, pronominal verbs behave like non-
pronominal ones: si compra unapenna, si comprano duepenne, from
comprare, and ci si compra una penna, ci si comprano due penne,
from comprarsi.
With compound tenses the ending of the past participle is in -i,
because, as we have seen above, the auxiliary used with these
pronominal verbs is essere: ci si L pentiti 'one has repented', ci si t
226 Italian Language Today
comprati 'one has bought (for oneself)', ci si ?I lauati'one has washed
(oneself)', ci si t corninciati a render conto di questo'one has begun to
realize this'; but si t corninciato a rendersi conto di questo with
cominciato and not cominciati because it corresponds to uno ha
cominciato a rendersi conto di questo (with auxiliary auere) and not
to uno si t corninciato a render conto di questo (with auxiliary essere).
If there is an object, there may
(i) not be agreement between past participle and object: cisi t com-
prati una penna, ci si t cornprati due penne;
(ii) be agreement between past participle and object: ci si t com-
prata una penna, ci si t comprate due penne;
(iii) be agreement between the whole of the verb form (including
the auxiliary) and the object: ci si t comprata una penna, ci si sono
cornprate due penne (cf.si sono cornprate due penne, quoted above).
Note that both in the passive and in the impersonal constructions
the agreement may work across complex verbal structures: si
correggono le bozze 'one corrects proofs', si deuono correggere le
bozze 'one must correct proofs', si devono poter correggere le bozze
'one must be able to correct proofs', si deuono poter cominciare a
correggere le bozze 'one must be able to begin to correct proofs'.

(d) Si as first person plural

The impersonal construction with si may be used with the value of
first person plural (a usage which has a Tuscan flavour), with or
without a preceding noi: (noi) si compra una penna corresponds to
(noi) compriarno una penna. There are circumstances in which the
impersonal si construction and the first person plural siconstruction
are not identical:
(i) in the first person plural si construction there is a tendency to
introduce agreement between the past participle and the subject;
female speakers, whilst using ci si t comprati un libro 'one has bought
oneself a book', ci si t comprati due penne as impersonal forms, will
use ci si t comprate una penna, ci si t cornprate due libn 'we bought
ourselves two books' as first person plural forms;
(ii) whilst, as we have seen above, with an impersonal interpretation
si comprano due penne, si sono comprate due penne are more
common than si compra duepenne, s i t comprato duepenne, with the
meaning of first person plural the latter two are more common.
 The use of si 227
There are two further ways in which the impersonal and the first
person plural constructions differ, which we will see in our discus-
sion of pronominalization in the si constructions below.

(e) Pronominalization
When a conjunctive pronoun is used for the object in the imper-
sonal si construction si compra una penna gives la si compra, si com-
prano due penne gives le si compra, or less commonly le si comprano,
si t comprata una penna gives la si t comprata, si sono comprate due
penne gives le Si t comprate, or less commonly le si sono comprate.
In modern Italian in a sentence like la si compra the pronoun la is
interpreted as an object, not as a subject, and si compra can only be
interpreted as an impersonal and not a passive form. There is little
doubt that this is the contemporary value of such sentences,
notwithstanding the efforts of grammarians who during the last cen-
tury tried to prove that they had to be interpreted as passives, la
being the unstressed form of the feminine subject pronoun (as in the
-obsolete or dialectal la dice 'she says'); sentences like mi si vede 'one
sees me', ti si vede 'one sees you', lo si vede 'one sees him' were
considered ungrammatical because mi, ti, lo (unlike la) could not be
interpreted as forms of the subject pronouns. In modern Italian they
are perfectly grammatical, with mi, ti, lo, etc., as objects.
With pronominal verbs, from ci si compra una penna we get ce la
si compra, from ci si comprano due penne we get ce le si compra, and
less commonly ce le si comprano, from ci si t comprati unapenna we
get ce la si t comprata, from ci si sono comprate duepenne we get ce le
si t comprate, and less commonly ce le si sono comprate.
The order of pronouns in impersonal constructions differs from
the order in personal constructions: la si compra 'one buys it' vs. se
la compra 'he buys it for himself', le si compra or le si comprano 'one
buys them', vs. se le compra 'he buys them for himself', se le com-
prano 'they buy them for themselves', la si t comprata 'one bought
it' vs. se la 2 comprata 'he bought it for himself', lesi t comprateor le
si sono comprate 'one bought them' vs. se le t comprate 'he bought
them for himself', se le sono comprate 'they bought them for them-
selves'.
The same contrast applies when ci precedes; in personal
constructions ci is most naturally interpreted as a locative: ce la si
compra 'one buys it for oneself' vs. ci se la compra 'he buys it for
himself there'.
As mentioned above, when there is pronominalization we find
228 Italian Language Today
two further cases of distinction between the impersonal and the first
person plural si constructions:
(i) When ci si is used, the agreement between the object pronoun
and the past participle is compulsory in impersonal si constructions,
but it is optional in first person plural si constructions.
The following two sentences (with agreement of past participle
and object pronoun) can be interpreted both as impersonal and as
first person plural: (A) ce la si 2 comprata, (B) ce le si t comprate.
The following four sentences (with agreement of past participle
with subject) can only be interpreted as first person plural: (C) ce la
si t comprati, (D) ce Ie si t comprati, (E) ce la si t comprate, (F) ce le si
2 comprate (in (C) and (D) a masculine noi, and in (E) and (F) a
feminine noi is understood).
Although (B) and (F) are the same on the surface, in (B) comprate
is interpreted as agreeing with the object le, and in (F) with a
feminine plural subject, as we have indicated.
(ii) With ci si constructions too, in the case of the first person plural,
but not in the case of the impersonal, the order of the pronouns can
be the one typical of personal constructions: (A) ci se la t comprati
'we (masculine) bought it for ourselves', (B) ci se le t comprati 'we
(masculine) bought them for ourselves', (C) ci se la t comprate 'we
(feminine) bought it for ourselves', (D) ci se le t comprate 'we
(feminine) bought them for ourselves'.
In these examples one can have an agreement between past
participle and object, so that (A) and (C) become ci se la t comprata,
and (B) and (D) ci se le t comprate.

.3 The use of indicative past tenses: perfect

(passato prossimo), past historic (passato
remoto), imperfect (imperfetto)
(a) The use of the perfect and of the past historic varies in different
parts of Italy. In the north the past historic is rarely used in spoken
Italian, whilst in the south it is more widely used than the perfect. In
central Italy a distinction is made in the use of the two tenses, and
this distinction is observed in literary Italian. The notes that follow
set out this usage.
The perfect is used to describe a completed action which is still
felt to be in some way linked to the present. The rule often given
that if an event happened in the last twenty-four hours the perfect
 Past tenses 229
should be used, is misleading. What is relevant is not so much the
period of time which has elapsed as whether the event is felt to be
related to the present: mi diede un calcio 'he gave me a kick' (but it is
all forgotten) vs. mi ha dato un calcio 'he gave me a kick' (and I am
still aching). If the question were asked perch2 sei cosl arrabbiatocon
lui? 'why are you so angry with him?', the appropriate answer wpuld
be in the perfect (perch&mi ha dato un calcio) as the action is related
to the present situation.
It is of course natural that the perfect should often be used for
recent events:, mio fratello t partito due ore fa 'my brother left two
hours ago', hai sentito il kiornale radio delle sei?'did you hear the six
o'clock news?', but one can also have examples like lo vidipassare 'I
saw him go by' for an event of a short time before.
The perfect is also used to describe an action happening within a
span of time which, however far back it began, is not yet concluded:
negli ultimi dieci anni abbiamo cambiato casa sette volte 'in the last
ten years we have moved house seven times' (but in quei dieci anni
cambiammo casa sette volte 'in those ten years we moved house
seven times'), in questo secolo non sono nati grandi musicisti 'no
great musicians have been born this century'.
It is also used to describe past events the effects of which still last:
Dante ci ha dato nella 'Cornmedia' la maggiore opera della nostra
letteratura 'Dante with his Comedy has given us the greatest work in
our literature'.
Note: t nato nel1901 'he was born in 1901' (of someone who is
still alive) vs. nacque nel1915 'he was born in 1915' (of someone
who is now dead).
The past historic is the past tense used for completed action which
is no longer related to the present: l'anno scorso non andai in
vacanza 'last year I did not go on holiday', lo incontrai per caso in
tram 'I met him by chance on the tram', visse ottantadue anni 'he
lived to the age of eighty-two', passb tre anni a Napoli 'he spent
three years in Naples'. It is thus the tense normally used for the
action in a narrative set in the past. The following passage from
Pratolini shows the contrast between the perfect of conversation
and the past historic of narrative:
'Ilplotone dei fazzoletti rossisischierd,fece fuoco, i tre a1 murogrida-
rono: "viva", e non si seppe viva cosa, non ebbero il tempo difinire.
'Sono cascati come burattini' disse Tosca.
Una donna, una sposa, accanto a lei si fece il segno della croce; Tosca
la guardb, sorrise.
230 Italian Language Today
'Forse ho detto male?' le chiese, e si fece anch'essa il segno della
croce. '
'The red kerchief platoon drew up and fired; the three against the
wall cried "long live", one never knew long live what, they did not
have time to finish. "They fell like puppets", said Tosca. A young
married woman, standing by her, crossed herself. Tosca looked at
her and smiled. "Perhaps I should not have said that?" she asked
her, and she too crossed herself.'

(b) The imperfect is used in contrast with the perfect and the past
historic for action (in the subordinate clause) during which some-
thing else goes on or happens (in the main clause). If the action in
the main clause is continuous, it is expressed in the imperfect, if
completed in the perfect or past historic: lavorava a maglia mentre
leggeva 'she knitted as she read', me l'ha raccontato mentre tornavo a
casa 'he told me as I went home', mi venne in mente mentre facevo il
bagno 'it occurred to me while I was having a bath'.
The imperfect is used for completed action if this is habitual:
riposava ogni giomo dalle due alle tre 'he rested every day from two
to three', per andare a1 lavoro partiva di casapresto'to go to work he
left the house early'. Habitual action within a completed period of
time is however in the past historic: per un mese riposb ogni giorno
dalle due alle tre 'for a month he rested every day from two to three';
but da un mese riposava ogni giorno dalle due alle tre quando comin-
cib a sofire d'indigestione 'he had been resting every day for a
month from two to three when he began to suffer from indigestion':
the same completed month in the past is here viewed as the back-
ground against which something else happens.
The imperfect is the tense normally used for descriptions: la
strada era polverosa 'the road was dusty', la nebbia copriva le mon-
tagne 'mist covered the mountains'; for moods and physical states:
quando lo vidi era anabbiato 'when I saw him he was angry', aveva
molto sonno 'he was very sleepy'.
There are some verbs which in the past are more frequently used
in the imperfect: sapeva bene il latino 'he knew Latin well', non
capiva la musica 'he did not understand music', sembrava stanco 'he
seemed tired', non credeva in Dio 'he did not believe in God'. Their
meaning may change if they are not used statively (referring to
conditions which have a duration) but aoristically (referring to in-
dividual events): seppe la notizia troppo tardi 'he learnt the news too
late', capi che erano partiti 'he realized that they had left', sembrb
 Past tenses 231
stupito 'he looked surprised', in the sense of: he took on a surprised
expression, non gli credemmo 'we did not believe him'.
Another example from Pratolini exemplifies the contrast bet-
ween the past historic and the imperfect: 'ella solleud la testa e gli
cercb le mani, gliele stringeva, e la sua voce, a1 contrario, tradl il tur-
bamento ch'ella cercava di dissimulare, e il concetto da esprimere,
cosl chiaro dentro di lei, riusci sempre pid sconclusionato, via via che
essa parlava' 'she lifted her head and sought his hands, she pressed
them, but her voice betrayed the turmoil she was trying to hide, and
the ideas she wanted to express, which were so clear inside her,
became more and more confused as she talked'.
The imperfect can also be used:
(i) instead of a past conditional in sentences like: dovevi venire
prima 'you should have come before', potevi dimelo 'you might
have told me';
(ii) instead of the present, in expressions like: desiderava, si-
gnorina? 'can I help you?' (literally: 'you wanted, miss?'), volevo un
uocabolario russo 'I wanted a Russian dictionary'. But note that the
present could only be used in the question: desidera? 'can I help
you?'; in the statement of desire the present voglio would sound too
peremptory. Here the other possible tense is the conditional: vorrei
'I should like';
(iii) instead of the pluperfect subjunctive, in conditional sentences:
se venivi prima 'if you had come before' (cf. chapter VI. 13(c)(i));
(iv) instead of the past historic in narrative ('the historical imper-
fect'), originally to give a loftier, epic tone; but this has been so
overworked in newspaper reporting that now it also has a jour-
nalese connotation: here is an example from the daily I1 Giorno (24
August 1974): 'I1 bandito si avvicinava alla Brembilla intimandole
di aprire i cassetti della sua scrivania e qui rinveniva circa 800 mila
lire, che infilava in un sacchetto di plastica. Subito dopo i due
rapinatori uscivano di corsa balzando su una motocicletta, ma
nell'andarsene ad uno degli sconosciuti sfuggiva di mano il casco ed il
passamontagna.' 'The robber went up to Ms Brembilla and ordered
her to open the drawers of her desk; here he found about 800 000
lire which he slipped into a plastic bag. Immediately afterwards the
two robbers ran out, leaping on to a motorcycle, but as they went
one of the two (unknown persons) lost hold of his helmet and
balaclava'. l5
232 Italian Language Today
(v) Note that corresponding to the English past tenses in 'he has
been here a week', 'he had been here a week', in Italian the present
and imperfect are used with da: t qui da una sem'mana, era qui da
una sem'mana. Whereas b stato qui una settimana and era stato qui
una settimana correspond to 'he was here for a week'.

14 The use of the subjunctive

In a discussion of the subjunctive it seems desirable not so much to
make general statements about its value (expressing doubt, or
marking subordination) as to present some of the contexts in whfch
it appears. The examples we have chosen are inevitably selective,
but they should clarify the use of the subjunctive in the categories
which seem to us the most relevant subdivisions for this analysis: (a)
in main clauses, (b) in subordinate clauses where the subjunctive is
obligatory, (c) in subordinate clauses where the choice between
indicative and subjunctive is stylistic, (d) in subordinate clauses
where the choice between indicative and subjunctive involves a
clear-cut difference of meaning, (e) in subordinate clauses where
the subjunctive indicates that the main clause has a different sub-
ject. We shall not discuss here the sequence of tenses which is dealt
with in chapter VI. 15.

(a) Subjunctive in the main clause

(i) In the lei form of the imperative (commands and requests): se ne
vada 'go away', entri pure 'do come in', si accomodino, signori
'please sit down, gentlemen';
(ii) in expressions of desire, hope or command: possiate avere tutto il
success0 che meritate 'may you have all the success you deserve', Dio
vi benedica 'God bless you', potessi venire anch'io 'if only I could
come too', potessero vederti i tuoi genitori 'if only your parents could
see you', purchb akvi in tempo 'as long as he arrives in time', se
uenisse! and magari venisse 'if only he'd come', che non gli uenga un
raffreddore 'if only he doesn't get a cold', chissb che venga 'let's hope
he comes' (vs. chissb se view 'I wonder if he's coming'), che non si
ripeta 'mind it doesn't happen again';
(iii) in exclamations: vedessi che lusso! 'you should see how grand!',
sapessi che buffo! 'if you knew how funny it was!';
 The subjunctive 233
(iv) in expressions of doubt: che sia finito? 'I wonder if it's
finished?', che venga qui? 'I wonder if he'll come here?', che sia Iui?
' I wonder if it's him?';
(v) in concessive expressions: va bene, che venga anche lui 'all right,
let him come too', sia pure come dici tu, ma io non vengo 'it may well
be as you say, but I'm not coming', vada per la pizza 'all right, let's
settle for pizza'.

(b) Subordinate clauses where the subjunctive is obligatory

(i) After the following conjunctions and subordinating expressions:
affincht: ti scrivo affincht tu capisca la situazione 'I am writing to
you so that you will understand the situation'; note that the personal
pronoun is always used with the second personal singular of the
present subjunctive to avoid ambiguities. If there is no pronoun it is
assumed that the third person singular is being used: spero che venga
' I hope he comes', or 'I hope you come' (with the lei form);
bencht, sebbene, quantunque: le telefono bencht (or sebbene) sia
tardi 'I'll ring her although (or: even though) it's late';
purcht, a condizione che, apatto che: vengo da voi, purcht mi aiutiate
'I'll come to you, as long as you help me', le promise una bicicletta a
condizione che (or a patto che) fosse promossa 'he promised her a
bicycle on condition that (or: as long as) she passed her exams'; a
meno che: stiamo a casa a meno che tu non abbia altri piani 'we are
staying at home, unless you have other plans';
peril caso che, nel caso che, caso mai, qualora: lascio un bigliettoper
il caso che Ugo arrivi presto 'I'm leaving a note in case Ugo arrives
early';
prima che: pulisce la casa prima che am'vino gli ospiti 'he's cleaning
the house before the guests arrive';
senza che: t entrato senza che noi lo sentissimo 'he came in without
our hearing him' (vs. t entrato senza salutarci 'he came in without
greeting us').

T o these one should add some expressions, listed in (d) below,

which have one meaning with the subjunctive, and another with the
indicative, e.g., percht (final) 'so that', with the subjunctive, and
percht (causal) 'because', with the indicative.
234 Italian Language Today
(ii) after some 'impersonal expressions' (the indicative here would
be less acceptable than in (c)(ii) below): t bene, meglio che'it is well,
better that', bisogna che 'it is necessary that', conviene che 'one had
better', t facile, difficile che 'it is easy, difficult that', t necessarioche
'it is necessary that', Lprobabile, improbabile che 'it is likely, unlikely
that', pub darsi che, pub essere che 'it may be that', t raro che 'it is rare
that', 2 utile, inutile che 'it is useful, useless that', vale lapena che 'it
is worth'. Examples: bisogna che io lo Veda 'I must see him', con-
viene che tu glielo dica 'you had better tell him', 2 necessario che lei si
awabbi? 'does she have to get cross?', pub darsi che sia gid arrivato
'he may have already arrived', t raro che il treno non parta in ritardo
'it's rare for the train not to leave late', b inutile che lui si metta a
gridare 'it's useless for him to start shouting', vale la pena che lui lo
pubblichi 'it's worthwhile his publishing it'. We can also have a
future or conditional after t probabile, improbabile che, pub darsi
che, pub essere che.
(iii) after some verbs expressing desire, hope, permission, preven-
tion: augurarsi 'to wish', impedire 'to prevent', lasciare 'to let',
permettere 'to allow', sperare 'to hope', volere 'to want' (for verbs
which allow the indicative, see (c)(v)). Examples: mi auguro che tu
guarisca presto 'I hope you get well soon', ho impedito che facesse
troppi sbagli 'I stopped him making too many mistakes' (also gli ho
impedito di fare troppi sbagli), lascerb che venga da solo 'I'll let him
come alone' (also lo lascerb venire da solo), permetti che entn'no? 'will
you allow them to come in?', spero che Ugo ntorni sabato 'I hope
Ugo comes back on Saturday' (vs. spero di ritornare ' I hope to come
back'). According to traditional grammars the indicative after spero
is ungrammatical, but on a very informal level (especially with the
second person) one can hear spero che sei contento 'I hope you're
pleased', etc.; voglio che venga 'I want him to come' (vs. voglio
venire 'I want to come'; and as for the previous example, very infor-
mally non voglio che fai storie 'I don't want you to make a fuss'.) We
can also have a future or conditional after augurarsi, sperare.
(iv) with indefinite adjectives and pronouns: qualunque cosa suc-
ceda, non preoccuparti 'whatever happens, don't worry', chiunque
sia, non voglio vederlo 'whoever he is, I don't want to see him', com-
pralo qualunque sia il prezzo 'buy it whatever the cost'.
(v) in clauses of the following type juxtaposed to the main one
without any conjunction: cosi stanno le cose, ti piaccia o no 'that is
 The subjunctive 235
how things are, like it or not', lo comprerei costasse un occhio 'I
would buy it even if it cost the earth', lo faremo costi quel che costi
'we will do it whatever the cost'.

(c) Subjunctive in subordinate clauses where the choice is stylistic

The subjugctive suggests either a nuance of uncertainty or a more
formal level:
(i) se tu l'avessi fatto sarebbe stato meglio 'it would have been better
if you had done it', and less formally se lo faceui era meglio;
(ii) with some 'impersonal' expressions: t bello che 'it is nice that', t
brutto che 'it is nasty that', L naturale che 'it is natural that', tpeccato
che 'it is a pity that', t strano che 'it is strange that', dispiace che'one
is sorry that'. Examples: b peccato (or chepeccato) che sia girl partito
'it's a pity (or: what a pity) he has already left', and less formally t
peccato (or che peccato) che t girl partito; mi dispiace che vada in
Italia '1'm sorry he's going to Italy', and less formally mi dispiace che
va in Italia.
The subjunctive is common with verbs used 'impersonally' if they
introduce an element of uncertainty: si dice che i soldati sianopartiti
'they say the soldiers have left': this is hearsay, as opposed to the
affirmation Ada dice che i soldati sono partiti. Note that for hearsay
or unconfirmed news the conditional is often used: i soldati sareb-
bero partiti 'it would seem that the soldiers have left', il colpevole
sarebbe stato arrestato 'it would seem that the culprit has been
arrested' (cf. chapter VI. 16(c)).
(iii) with verbs of feeling and thinking: credere che 'to think that',
parere che, sembrare che'to seem that'. Examples: credo che tu abbia
ragione 'I think you are right', mi pare che abbia il morbillo 'it seems
to me he has got measles' and less formally credo che hai ragione, mi
pare che ha il morbillo. Statements of religious belief usually take the
indicative: credo che Dio esiste 'I believe that God exists';
(iv) with some verbs of knowing and saying in the negative and in
the interrogative: dire che 'to say that', sapere se 'to know whether',
and after verbs of asking: chiedere, domandare se 'to ask whether'.
Examples: non dico che lui abbia torto or less formally non dico che
ha torto 'I do not say that he is wrong', sai se sia vero?or less formally
sai se t vero? 'do you know whether it's true?', non so se sia utile or
less formally non so se t utile 'I do not know whether it's useful', mi
236 Italian Language Today
chiese se fosse possibile or less formally mi chiese se era possibile 'he
asked me if it was possible'. Note that the conditional could be used
to make the se clause more hypothetical: non so se sarebbe utile 'I do
not know whether it would be useful', mi chiese se sarebbe stato
possible 'he asked me whether it would b e possible'.. . .
(for the use of
. .. .- .
I,-..---
the past conditional see chapter VI. 16(d));
(v) with some verbs indicating pleasure, displeasure, anger, regret,
fear, surprise: essere arrabbiato 'to be angry', aver paura 'to be
afraid', essere contento, scontento 'to be pleased, displeased7,essere
felice, infelice 'to be happy, unhappy', rammaricarsi 'to regret',
rincrescere 'to be sorry', essere sorpreso, stupito 'to be surprised',
stupirsi 'to be surprised', temere 'to fear'. Examples: Sono anabbiato
che tu non mi abbia scritto 'I'm cross that you have not written to
me', sono contento che venga presto 'I'm pleased he's coming early',
mi rincresce che la lertera non sia arrivata in t e m p 'I'm sorry the
letter did not arrive in time', sono stupito che non mi abbia mandato
un regalo 'I'm surprised he has not sent me a present', mi stupisce
che non si sia fatto vivo 'I'm surprised he did not get in touch', and
less formally sono arrabbiato che non mi hai scritto, sono contento che
view presto, mi nncresce che la lettera non L arrivata in tempo, sono
stupito che non mi ha mandato un regalo, mi stupisce che non si t fatto
viw;
(vi) in comparative, superlative and indefinite expressions: t piu
grande di quanto mi aspettassi 'he is bigger than I expected', L la
persona piu gentile che io conosca 'he is the kindest person I know',
non c'era nessuno che sapesse il russo 'there was no one who knew
Russian', Ugo t l'unico che sia venuto 'Ugo is the only one who
came', and more informally L piu grande di quanto mi aspettavo, t la
persona pirS gentile che conosco, non c'era nessuno che sapeva il russo,
Ugo t l'unico che t venuto;
(vii) when a clause introduced by che precedes instead of following
the main verb: che tu sia forte, lo so 'that you are strong, that I do
know', che fosse studente non lo sapevo 'that he was a student, that I
didn't know', che siano partiti t sicuro 'that they have left, that is
certain7,and more informally che sei forte, lo so; che era studente non
lo sapevo; che sono partiti t sicuro;
(viii) in indirect questions, at a formal level or conveying an element
of surprise in the question: domandai dove andasse 'I asked where
he might be going', ho chiesto chi fosse ' I asked who he might be', ho
 Sequence of tenses 237
domandato perch2 fosse venuto 'I asked why ever he had come', mi
ha chiesto se fosse possibile 'he asked me whether it might be pos-
sible', and at a neutral level, reporting a straightforward question:
domandai dove andaua 'I asked where he was going', ho chiesto chi
era 'I asked who he was', ho domandato perch2 era venuto 'I asked
why he had come', mi ha chiesto se era possibile 'he asked me
whether it was possible'.

(d) Subjunctive in subordinate clauses where the choice involves a

clear-cut difference of meaning
(i) after some verbs of thinking and believing: si capisce che siano
arrabbiati 'it's understandable they should be cross', si capisce che
sono arrabbiati 'it's clear that they are cross'; penso che domani
debba partire 'I think he should be leaving tomorrow', penso che
domani deue partire ' I am thinking of his having to leave tomorrow';
mi sembra che uolino 'they seem to be flying', mi sembra che uolano
'it seems to me they are flying';
(ii) after certain subordinating expressions: aspetta che uenga 'wait
until he comes', aspetta che viene 'wait, he's coming'; dato che
venga, possiamo star tranquilli 'as long as he comes, we have no need
to worry', dato che viene possiamo sta:. tranquilli 'seeing that he's
coming, we have no need to worry'; dopo che Ugofossepartito non
restavapiu niente da fare 'had Ugo gone, there would not have been
anything to do', dopo che Ugo fu partito non restava pi& niente da
fare 'after Ugo had gone, there was nothing to do'; fermati finch2 sia
bello 'stay here until it becomes fine', fermati finch2 2 bello 'stay here
as long as it is fine';16 mi ha aiutato perch2 avessi un buon voto 'he
helped me so that I could get a godd mark', mi ha aiutato perch2
aueuo un buon voto 'he helped me because I had a good mark'; per
quanto ahbia uinto non lo invidio 'I do not envy him although he has
won', per quanto ha uinto non lo inuidio 'I do not envy him for what
he has won*;se uenga non te lo chiedo 'I am not asking you whether
he is coming', se uiene non te lo chiedo 'if he comes I will not ask you
for it'; se uenisse nessuno lo sapeua 'no one knew whether he was
coming', se ueniua nessuno lo sapeua 'if he had come no one would
have known';
(iii) in relative clauses: cerco una ragazza che sappia il cinese 'I am
looking for a girl who knows Chinese' (if there is one), cerco una
ragazza che sa il cinese ' I am looking for a girl who knows Chinese'
(a specific one whose existence I know of).
238 Italian Language Today

(e) In subordinate dauses introduced by chc

The subject may not be the same as the subject of the main clause if
the subjunctive is used; if the subject is the same a construction with
the infinitive or the indicative must be used: penso dipoter venire, or
penso che posso venire 'I think I can come', but not penso che iopossa
venire; penso che tu, egli, etc., possa venire is of course correct. (One
may however find examples like 'Ma adesso mi pare che debba dire
basta' 'but now I think I have to say enough is enough' (from an
interview with an Italian minister, I1 Giorno, 28 September 1974);
their grammaticality is doubtful).
Ha detto che uiene may mean that he said he was coming himself
or that he said someone else was coming, whereas ha detto che venga
can only mean that he told someone else to come.

15 Sequence of tenses
The use of tenses in subordinate clauses follows two different pat-
terns according to whether the verb of the main clause requires a
present sequence or a past sequence. A present sequence is found
with the present, future, perfect, and future perfect of the indica-
tive, present and perfect subjunctive, present conditional; a past
sequence is found with the imperfect, past historic, perfect, pluper-
fect of the indicative, imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive, past
conditional. It will be noticed that the perfect can take either
sequence, as it refers both to a past action and to the resulting
present situation.
We give examples for the present and imperfect indicative only,
and note the few differences for other tenses. The examples are
classified according to whether the verb in the subordinate clause
refers to an action which is contemporary, successive or anterior to
that of the main clause. In the following tables we omit the condi-
tional in subordinate clauses because this will be dealt with in
chapter VI. 16.

(a) Main clause Subordinate clause

contemporary
present indicative + present indicative so che t qui 'I know
he is here'
 Sequence of tenses 239
+ present subjunctive non so se sia qui 'I
do not know
whether he is here'
successive
+ present indicative so che viene domani
'I know he is
coming tomorrow'
+ present subjunctive non so se venga
domani ' I do not
know whether he is
coming tomorrow'
+ future indicative so che uerrct domani
' I know he will
come tomorrow'
+ future perfect so che fra due giorni
sarctpanito 'I know
he will have left in
two days' time'
anterior
+ imperfect indicative so che ueniva 'I
know he was
coming'
+ imperfect subjunctive non so se uenisse ' I
do not know
whether he was
coming'
+ perfect indicative so che t uenuto 'I
know he has come'
+ perfect subjunctive non so se sia venuto
' I do not know
whether he has
come'
+ past historic so che venne l'anno
scorso ' I know he
came last year'
+ pluperfect indicative so che era uenuto
due giomiprima 'I
know that he had
come two days
before'
240 Italian Language Today
+ pluperfect subjunctive non so se fosse
venuto due giorni
prima 'I do not
know whether he
had come two days
before'

When the main clause has (i) the future, the subordinate clause
may have a future for contemporary action: quando partiremo ci
vedrd 'he will see us when we leave', and a future perfect for anterior
action: ci cercherd solo dopo che saremo partiti 'he will look for us
only after we have left'; (ii) the future perfect, the subordinate
clause cannot express an anterior action; (iii) the present condi-
tional, the present sequence is found in sentences like sapresti come
si fa? 'would you know how to do it?', but there may be the past
sequence in sentences like vorrei che tu fossi qui ' I wish you were
here', vorrei che tu venissipresto ' I wish you would come soon' (see
the sequence in conditional sentences in chapter VI. 16(f)).

(b) Main clause Subordinate clause

contemporary
imperfect indicative + imperfect indicative sapevo che era qui 'I
knew he was here'
+ imperfect subjunctive non sapevo se fosse
qui 'I did not know
whether he was
here'

successive
+ imperfect indicative sapevo che veniva il
giorno dopo 'I knew
he was coming the
next day'
+ imperfect subjunctive non sapevo se
venisse il giorno
dopo'I did not
know whether he
was coming the
next day'
 Sequence of tenses 241
anterior
+ pluperfect indicative sapevo che era gib
venuto 'I knew he
had already come'
+ pluperfect subjunctive non sapevo se fosse
gib venuto 'I did not
know whether he
had already come'
When the main clause has the past historic the subordinate clause
may have a past anterior for anterior action: ci cercb solo dopo che
fummo partiti 'he hoked for us only after we had left' (cf. chapter
V. 16(0)).
The rules for the sequence of tenses given above do not take into
account cases in which the subordinate clause:
(c) expresses a general statement: mi disse che l'acqua bolle a cento
gradi 'he told me that water boils at 100"; affennava che le leggi
fisiche hanno un carattere statistico 'he claimed that the laws of
physics have a statistical character', where a present tense follows a
past;

(d) is formulated in 'semi-direct speech' (or bound direct speech:

stile diretto legato), i.e., contains an expression used in direct
speech and inserted into the reported sentence without conforming
to the rules of indirect speech, as in diceva che t contento (instead of
era contento, in a subordinate clause contemporary to the main one)
'he said he was happy', diceva che Ugo ci restb male (instead of ci
era restato male, in a subordinate clause anterior to the main one)
he said Ugo was upset'."

16 The use of the conditional

(a) The different values of the conditional seem to have a common
denominator suggesting desire, intention, or possibility: mi
piacerebbe saper cantare 'I would like to be able to sing', mi sarebbe
piaciuto super cantare 'I would have liked to be able to sing' vs. mi
piace (or mi piaceva) saper cantare 'I am (or: was) glad to be able to
sing'.
242 Italian Language Today
(b) It can be used to suggest something less categorical than the
indicative: direi che 2 meglio andare 'I think it might be better to go',
penserei di venire 'I am planning to come', non saprei 'I wouldn't
know', vorrei un paio di guanti 'I should like a pair of gloves', and
also in questions: avrebbe unpaio di guanti?'would you have a pair
of gloves?', mi potrebbero dare un'informazione? 'could you give me
some information?', and with an imperative (tone 5) rather than an
interrogative (tone 2) intonation: mi lascerebbero in pace per favore!
'would you please leave me in peace!', uorrebbero andarsene!'would
you go!'.

(c) It is frequently used in reporting unconfirmed news: i criminali

sarebbero ancora nei dintorni 'the criminals are probably still in the
neighbourhood', sarebbero penetrati nel negozio durante la notte
'they apparently broke into the shop during the night'.

(d) In indirect speech the following sequences are found: dice che
verrebbe 'he says he would come' or 'he says he will come' (succes-
sive or contemporary subordinate); dice che sarebbe venuto 'he says
he would have come' (i.e., next week, had we still been here: succes-
sive subordinate), or 'he says he would have come' (i.e., last week
had we already been here: anterior subordinate); diceua che sarebbe
venuto 'he said that he would come' (contemporary or successive
subordinate, which can also be expressed as diceua che verrebbe in
semi-direct speech), or 'he said he would have come' (i.e., the week
before, had we already been there: anterior subordinate).
Some grammars suggest that in the past sequence referring to
successive action the present or the past conditional can be used
indifferently; other grammars suggest that the present should be
used if the action did happen or is presented as sure to happen. In
this case diceva che verrebbe (as a successive subordinate) would not
be in semi-direct speech but in regular indirect speech. The past
conditional is in fact generally preferred. But in sentences like: che
cosa vogliono? - Hanno detto che prenderebbero un gelato 'what do
they want? - They said they'll have an ice-cream' the present condi-
tional is used with a present sequence of tenses which is compatible
with the perfect of the main clause.
In colloquial Italian the imperfect indicative can also be used for
successive action: sapevo che veniva 'I knew he was coming', but not
with verbs that usually take the subjunctive: speravo che non venisse
or speravo che non sarebbe venuto 'I hoped he would not come';
 The conditional 243
similarly with the present spero che non venga or spero che non vend
'I hope he does not come'.

(e) Three types of conditional sentences (periodi ipotetici) are usu-

ally distinguished, depending on whether the condition is assumed
to be (i) real, (ii) possible, or (iii) unreal. In type (i) the condition is
seen as completely open: there is no suggestion as to whether the
event will, or will not, happen; type (ii) (with reference to the
present or the future) conveys the belief that the event is less likely
to happen than in (i); type (iii) (with reference to the past) reveals
that the condition was not realized and therefore the event
mentioned in the main clause did not take place.I8 Examples:
(i) se vinci ti danno un premio 'if you win they give you a prize'; also
with other indicative tenses: se l'hai comprato ieri hai fatto un buon
affare 'if you bought it yesterday, it was a bargain';
(ii) se tu vincessi ti darebbero un premio 'if you won they would give
you a prize';
(iii) (A) se tu avessi vinto ti avrebbero dato unpremio 'if you had won,
they would have given you a prize'; in type (iii) the imperfect indica-
tive can be used colloquially: se vincevi ti davano unpremio (this can
of course have another meaning, and refer to habitual action in the
past: 'whenever you won they gave you a prize'); it is also possible to
have a type (iii) protasis (if-clause) with a type (ii) apodosis (main
clause), and this gives (iii)(B) se tu avessi vinto ti darebbero un
premio 'if you had won they would give you a prize'.

(f) Just as one has conditional sentences like sarei contento se venisse
'I would be pleased if he came', and sarei contento se fosse venuto 'I
would be pleased if he had come', so with a subordinate clause
introduced by che one gets sarei contento che venisse 'I would like
him to come', sarei contento che fosse venuto 'I would like him to
have come'. Vonei che venisse 'I wish he would come' and oowei che
fosse venuto 'I wish he had come' (the former apparently con-
tradicting the rules of the sequence of tenses) are produced on the
above pattern (cf. chapter VI. 15(a)(iii)).
There are two interesting uses of the conditional after se:

(g) when se corresponds to 'whether' or 'that': non siamo sicuri se lo

troverebbe 'we are not sure that he would find it';
244 Italian Language Today
(li) when a past conditional in a protasis (instead of, as is usual, in an
apodosis) indicates an action successive to the one of the main
clause which is in the past: perch2 occorreua agitarsi se non si sarebbe
ottenuto nulla? 'what was the point of making a fuss, if one was not
going to get anywhere?'; this is the use of the conditional for a
successive subordinate clause in a past sequence discussed in (d)
above. The seis here not hypothetical but has the meaning of 'seeing
that', 'since'.
(i) Note the different meanings of the following sentences: (i) n o n
so che cosa faccia a Milano ' I do not know what he is doing in
Milan'; (ii) non so che cosa abbia fatto a Milano 'I do not know what
he did in Milan'; (iii) non so che cosa facesse a Milano 'I do not
know what he was doing in Milan'; (iv) non so che cosa avesse fatto
a Milano 'I do not know what he had done in Milan'; (v) non so che
cosa farebbe a Milano 'I do not know what he would do in Milan';
(vi) non so che cosa avrebbe fatto a Milano 'I do not know what he
would have done in Milan'; (vii) non sapevo che cosa facesse a
Milano 'I did not know what he was doing in Milan'; (viii) non
sapevo che cosa avesse fatto a Milano 'I did not know what he had
done in Milan'; (ix) non sapevo che cosa farebbe a Milano 'I did not
know what he would do in Milan'; (x) non sapevo che cosa avrebbe
fatto a Milano (A) 'I did not know what he would do in Milan', (B)
'I did not know what he would have done in Milan'; note that (ix) is
a less common alternative of (x) in its reading (A).

Notes
? In this section we use, with simplifications, the work done on English by
HALLIDAY, M. A. K., Intonation and Grammar in British English, The Hague,
1967; see LEPSCHY, G . , 'Appunti sull'intonazione italiana', in Annuli della
Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, s.111, 8, 1978, pp. 275-292 (also in Saggi
di linguistica italiana, Bologna, 1978, chapter 11); cf, also Gruppo di
Padova, 'L'ordine dei sintagmi nella frase', in Fenomeni morfologici e
sintattici nell'italiano contemporaneo (Societh di Linguistica Italiana, 7),
Rome, 1974, pp. 147-161; CINQUE, G . , 'The Movement Nature of Left
Dislocation', in Linguistic Inquiry, 8, 1977, pp. 397-412; CINQUE, G., and
ANTINUCCI, F., 'Sull'ordine delle parole in italiano: I'emarginazione', in
Studi di linguistica italiana, 6, 1977, pp. 121-146; BENINCA, P., '11 lato
sinistro della frase italiana', in Journal of the Association of Teachers of
Italian, 47, 1986, pp. 57-85.
We owe some ideas on the article to discussions with L. Renzi; see his
 The conditional 245
'Grammatica e storia dell'articolo italiano', in Studi di Grammatica
Itafiana, 5, 1976, pp. 5-42, and LEPSCHY, G., 'L'USOdell'articolo: confronti
interlinguistici', in Recherches de linguistique. Hommages a Maurice Leroy,
Bruxelles, 1980, pp. 119-124. Many of the categories we give are purely ad
hoc and are only intended to provide practical help for the learner.
G. Cinque has helped us to come to these conclusions.
This does not imply that it is impossible to find examples: see 'l'andamento
del turismo in Veneto P piu che buono', in La Repubblica, 24 December
1979, p. 33.

' Cf. CONTE,M.-E.,'L'aggettivo in italiano. Problemi sintattici', in Storia

linguistics dell'ltalia nel Novecento (Societil di Linguistica Italiana, 6),
Rome, 1973, pp. 75-91.
Cf. ALINEI,M., '11 tip0 sintagmatico "quel matto di Giorgio" ', in Gram-
matica trasformazionale italiana (SocietB di Linguistica Italiana, 3), Rome,
1971, pp. 1-12.
'Some feminists (see chapter V note 7) have proposed different patterns of
agreement, based on the gender of the majority of the nouns, or on the
gender of the nearest one.
In the literary tradition the masculine is used for the tree, the feminine for
the fruit; the masculine is common for the fruit in ordinary usage. Many
interesting details concerning actual usage emerge from BRINKER, J. H.,
Problemi dell'accordo del participio passato nell'italiano moderno,
Groningen, 1984; among other things it appears that in constructions with
partitive ne (see (d) and (e) in this section), when there is a contrast
between the gender and/or number of the object and the noun to which ne
refers, agreement with the latter is more frequent: di francobolli, ne ho
collezionati una cinquantina 'stamps, I collected about fifty of them', rather
than collezionato or collezionata.
See EVANS, K. J., LEPSCHY, G., MORRIS, S. c., NEWMAN, J., WATSON, D.,
'Italian Clitic Clusters', in Studi Italiani di Linguistica Teorica ed Applicata,
7, 1978, pp. 153-168.
lo This example comes from LO CASCIO, v., Strutture pronominali e verbali
italiane, Bologna, 1970, p. 180.

"Readers who wish to analyse this freak example should note that the ce in
position 6 represents a si; the two si's of positions 6 and 8 become ci si; in
front of lo, ci becomes ce and can therefore remain adjacent to ci of position
5; the unsatisfactory lo se ne (based on lo si + se ne) is preferred to ne lo si
(based on ne lo + lo si) which seems to be even worse.
246 Italian Language Today
lZ See LEPSCHY, G . , 'Italian Causative and Perception Predicates Followed
by an Infinitive: Competence and Performance', i'n Studies in Greek, Italic,
and Indo-European Linguistics Offered to Leonard R. Palmer, Innsbruck,
1976, pp. 153-161 (in Italian in LEPSCHY, G., Saggi di linguistica italiana,
cit., chapter 4). Some of the sentences in brackets are ungrammatical for
many speakers. Although they are grammatical for at least some informants
(as emerges from a questionnaire of ours) they vary widely in acceptability.
Foreign students would be well advised to steer clear of all the bracketed
sentences.
l 3 SeeLEPSCHY, G., 'Alcune costruzioni con si', in Studi linguistici in onore di
T. Bolelli, Pisa, 1974, pp. 174-184 (also in LEPSCHY, G., Saggi di linguistica
italiana, cit., chapter 3).
l4 See LEPSCHY, G . , 'Aspects of Italian Constructions with si', in The
Italianist, 6, 1986, pp. 139-151.
IS It can also be used for a literary effect. See CELATI, G . , Narratori delle
pianure, Milan, 1985, where the imperfect is very frequently used to refer to
single events, instead of the expected perfect or past historic: 'Lei partiva
investendolo' 'She drove off running him down' (p. 19); 'Percid tornavano
un paio di volte a parlarnc col libraio' 'So they went back a couple of times
to talk about it to the bookseller' (p. 63).
l6 On the use of finch.? see chapter V . 5(c). A pleonastic non may also be
used in comparative expressions, cf. chapter V. 6, and in exclamations:
quello che non le ha detto! 'the things he told her!', dove non t andato a
cercare! 'the places he looked in!'.
l7 We distinguish semi-direct from semi-indirect speech (or free indirect
speech: stile indiretto libero); the latter uses the tensesof indirect speech in a
main clause: Mi rispose. Non mi credeva for Mi rispose che non mi credeva
'He replied to me. He didn't believe me' for 'He replied to me that he didn't
believe me' (direct: Mi rispose: 'Non ti credo' 'He replied to me: 'I don't
believe you' ').
l8 See, for English, the interpretation of conditional clauses in QUIRK,R., et
al., A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, London and New
York, 1985, paragraph 15.35, pp. 1091-1092.
A Short Bibliography

For a general bibliography on Italian linguistics see the major work

by HALL, R. A., JR., Bibliografia della linguistica italiana, Florence, 1958,
with its Primo supplemento decennale, Florence, 1969; Secondo sup-
plement~decennale (1966-1976), Pisa, 1980; and the syntheses by MUL-
I A ~ Ik .~, Introduzione
, allo studio della lingua italiana, Turin, 1971; HALL,
R. A., JR., Bibliografia essenziale della linguistica italiana e romanza,
Florence, 1973.
Chapters I and 11. On the history of Italian the basic work is MIGLIORINI,
B., Stona della lingua italiana, Florence, 1960, which stops at 1915; an
edition abridged and extended to our own day: MIGLIORINI, B., and
BALDELLI, I., Breve stona della lingua italiana, Florence, 1964; in English,
abridged and recast by GRIFFITH, T. G., The Italian Language, Lohdon,
1966, revised 1984. See also DEVOTO, G.,Profilo distoria linguistica italiana,
Florence, 1953; DEVOTO, G., I1 linguaggio d'ltalia, Milan, 1974, in English
The Languages of Italy, Chicago, 1978 (which goes from the pre-Indo-
European period to the present day; an outline of Italian, with full
discussion of the pre-Roman and Roman periods in PULGRAM, E., The
Tongues of Italy, Cambridge, Mass., 1958); DEVOTO, G., and ALTIERI, M. L.,
La lingua italiana. Storia e problemi attuali, Turin, 1968, revised edition
1979 (a readable synthesis); DURANTE, M.,Dal latino all'italiano moderno.
Saggio di storia linguistica e culturale, Bologna, 1981; GENSINI, s., Elementi
di storia linguistica italiana, Bergamo, 1982; BRUNI, F . , L'italiano. Elementi
di storia della lingua e della cultura, Turin, 1984; and the sketch by s ~ u s s r ,
A., 'Lingua, dialetto e letteratura', in the first volume of the Einaudi Storia
d'ltalia, Turin, 1972, pp. 677-728. Very useful, not only for philological,
but also for linguistic questions, is STUSSI, A., Avviamento agli studi di
filologia italiana, Bologna, 1983.
Most important for the modern period: DE MAURO, T., Stona linguistica
dell'ltalia unita, Bari, 1976 (an enlarged edition of the work originally pub-
lished in 1963). A sketch of modern Italian: SEGRE, c., 'Le caratteristiche
della lingua italiana', in an appendix to BALLY, CH., Linguistica generale e
linguistica francese, Milan, 1963, pp. 437-470. See also MIGLIORINI, B.,
Lingua contemporanea, Florence, 1963; MIGLIORINI, B., La lingua italiana
d'oggi, Turin, 1967.
Chapter 111. For the lexical material see JABERG, K., and IUD,I., Sprach-
248 Italian Language Today
und Sachatlas Italiens und der Siidschweiz, Zofingen, 1928-1940; this is
used systematically in ROHLFS, G., Grammatica stonca della lingua italiana e
dei suoi dialetti, Turin, 1966-1969 (a more modern treatment of the histori-
cal grammar is offered by TEKAVEIC, P., Grammatica stonca dell'italiano,
Bologna, 1972, revised 1980); a brief synthesis: DEVOTO, G, and
GIACOMELLI, G.,I dialetti delle regioni d'ltalia, Florence, 1972. Very useful is
the series Profilo dei dialetti italiani edited by M . CORTELAZZO, Pisa, 1974
foll.
Chapter IV. Most information on local varieties is collected in De
Mauro's Stona quoted above; on sectional varieties see BECCARIA, G. L.,ed.,
I linguaggi settoriali in Italia, Milan, 1973. On lexis see: PANZINI, A.,
Dizionario moderno, Milan, 1963, tenth edition with the appendix 'Parole
nuove' by B. Migliorini. On Anglicisms: KLAJN, I., Influssi inglesi nella
lingua italiana, Florence, 1972.
Chapters V and VI. There is no large scale and reliable grammar of
modern Italian. Still useful in some respects are the antiquated works by
FORNACIARI, R.,Grammatica italiana dell'uso moderno, Florence, 1879 and
Sintassi italiana dell'uso moderno, Florence, 1881 (the latter reprinted,
with an introduction by G. Nencioni, Florence, 1974).
Among practical grammars in English: GRANDGENT, c.H., and WILKINS,
E.H., Italian Grammar, Boston, 1915 revised edition; JONES, F.J.,A Modern
Italian Grammar, London, 1960; LENNIE, D.,and GREW,M.,Italian for You.
A Practical Grammar, London, 1960; MCCORMICK, c.A., Basic Italian
Grammar, London, 1969.
On a larger scale, in Italian: BATTAGLIA, s., and PERNICONE, v., La gram-
matica italiana, Turin, 1973 (new edition); REGULA, M., and JERNEJ, J.,
Grammatica italiana descrittiva su basi storiche e psicologiche, Bern, 1965,
and revised edition 1975; FOGARASI, M.,Grammatica italiana del Novecento,
Budapest, 1969, revised edition, Rome, 1983; DARDANO, M.,TRIFONE, P., La
lingua italiana, Bologna, 1985. Much information is analysed and presented
in BRUNET, I . , Grammaire critique de l'italien, Paris, 1978 foil. (volumes
devoted to 1. Plurals, 2. Articles, 3. Possessives, 4. Demonstratives,
Numerals, Indefinites, 5. Gender, 6. Adjectives, 7. Comparatives, 8.
Pronouns).
A contrastive description: AGARD, F. B., and DI PIETRO, R. J., The Sounds of
English and Italian, and The Grammatical Structuresof English and Italian,
Chicago, 1965; a structural description: HALL,R. A,, JR., La struttura
dell'italiano, Rome, 1971; on transformational lines there are the attempts
by COSTABILE, N., Le strutture della lingua italiana. Grammatica generatiw-
trasformativa, Bologna, 1967 and La flessione in italiano, Rome, 1973;
PUGLIELLI, A., Strutture sintattiche del predicato in italiano, Bari, 1970; LO
CASCIO, v., Strutture pronominali e verbali italiane, Bologna, 1970; RAD-
FORD,A., Italian Syntax. Transformational and Relational Grammar,
Cambridge, 1977; RIZZI,L., Issues in Italian Syntax, Dordrecht, 1982;
BURZIO, L., Italian Syntax. A Government-Binding Approach, Dordrecht,
 Short Bibliography 249
1986. See also, from a descriptive, rather than a generative angle, SKYTTE,
G., La sintassi dell'infinito in italiano moderno, Copenhagen, 1983. Much
information will be found in the volumes published for the SocietA di
Linguistica Italiana, and in journals like Lingua Nostra, Studi di Gram-
matica Italiana, Rivista di Grammatica Generativa, Journal of Italian
Linguistics.
For the phonology see MULJAEIC, Z.,Fonologia della lingua italiana,
Bologna, 1972; for a pronouncing dictionary see MIGLIORINI, B.,TAGLIAVINI,
c., FIORELLI, P.,Dizionario d'ortografia e dipronunzia, Turin, 1969, revised
edition 1981.
For the lexis of modern Italian the largest and most reliable dictionaries
are the Dizionario enciclopedico italiano, Rome, 1955-1961, 12 vols.
(Appendice, 1963, Supplemento, 1974) and the Lessico universale italiano,
Rome, 1968-1981, 25 vols. (Supplemento, vol. 1 (A-H), 1985) published
by the Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; see also, produced by the same
institution, the Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Rome, 1986 foll., directed
by A. Duro. On a smaller scale the best are: MIGLIORINI, B., Vocabolario
della lingua italiana, Turin, 1965; DEVOTO, G , and OLI,G., Dizionario della
lingua italiana, Florence, 1971; ZINGARELLI, N., Vocabolario della lingua
italiana, Bologna, 1983, eleventh revised edition. Linguistically sensitive is
DARDANO, M.,N u o v i s ~ i m odizionario della lingua italiana, Turin-Bologna,
1987 (originally Rome, 1982, 2 vols.); with an encyclopaedic approach
DEVOTO, G., OLI,G. c., Vocabolario illustrato della lingua italiana, Milan,
1967, 2 vols. Historical dictionaries: TOMMASEO, N. and BELLINI, B.,
Dizionario della lingua italiana, Turin, 1861-1879; BATTAGLIA, s., Grande
dizionario della lingua italiana, Turin, 1967 foll. Among etymological
dictionaries should be mentioned BATTISTI, c., ALESSIO,G., Dizionario
etimologico italiano, Florence, 1950-1957, 5 vols.; CORTELAZZO, M.,ZOLLI,
P., Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, Bologna, 1979 foll.; one
volume syntheses by MIGLIORINI, B., DURO,A., Prontuario etimologico della
lingua italiana, Turin, 1950; DEVOTO, G., Avviamento alla etimologia
italiana. Dizionario etimologico, Florence, 1966; a very large-scale project,
inclusive of dialect material, is PFISTER, M., Lessico etimologico italiano,
Wiesbaden, 1979 foll. (in October 1987, with fascicule 18, it has reached the
word appaziculaze).
Among bilingual dictionaries the best are the Cambridge Italian Dictio-
nary, 2 vols., Cambridge, 1962-1981, and the Sansoni-Harrap Dizionario
delle lingue italiana e inglese, Florence, 1972-6. On a smaller scale one can
recommend: HAZON, M.,Grande dizionario inglese-italiano italiano-inglese,
Milan, 1961; RAGAZZINI, G . , Dizionario inglese italiano italiano inglese,
Bologna, 1967, revised edition (I1 Nuovo Ragazzini), 1984; I DIZIONARI
SANSONI, Collins Sansoni Inglese-italiano italiano-inglese, Florence, 1976;
SKEY, M., Dizionario inglese italiano italiano inglese, Turin, 1977 (Oxford,
1981); REYNOLDS, B . , Cambridge Signorelli. Dizionario italiano-inglese
inglese-italiano, Milan and Cambridge, 1985.
250 Italian Language Today
Table of main symbols used
- uc
-.m_ -- ~g
Q

."
23
2a
v
X
2 1 2 -
a
b

L.
Q
-
Q
2 2 2 2 3 3 g
a % -6a,
I

e 8 ? 8 B Z Z,
plosive and pb td tcl C J kg 1
affricate ts dz tJ d 3

fricative cpp f v sz r3 X Y hh

nasal m n P D
lateral 1 IC
-
rolled and r t R
flapped

semiconsonant w j

front central back

close i Y u
(or high) I The back vowels [u u o 31
half-close e 0 and, among the front ones,
(or mid-high) a [y 01 have lip-rounding.
half open E 3
(or mid-low) ae
open a
(or low)

Diacritic symbols
- under the symbol for a retracted consonant
- over the symbol for a nasalized vowel
: afterthe symbol for a long sound
after the symbol for a longer (and more fortis) consonant
under the symbol for a voiceless (and more lenis) consonant
Index

a: for in with place names 81; with Albano Leoni, F. 40

animate direct objects 76 Alcuin 20
abbreviations 79 alcuni 129
Ablaut 50 -ale suffix 80
Abruzzese dialect, present Alessio, G. 249
indicative 58; text 60; vowel Alinei, M. 245
system 48 allotropes 61
absolute superlative 112 Altieri, M. L. 247
accent, Latin 44 anaphonesis 46
accent marks 98-100 anaptyxis 49
accents, English 11-12,15 anche 195
accusative vs. dative vs. andare + gerund 148; + past
agentive 214-20 participle 149
action from within 221 anello vs. ditale 25
acute accents 99 anni venti 132
adjective + adjective antilanguage 17
compounds 185-6 Antinucci, F. 244
adjective + noun compounds 185 aoristic 230- 1
adjectives: adverbial usage 114-15; apodosis 243
agreement 108,192-3; as apophonic perfect 150
nouns 80; descriptive apophony 50
function 190-2; apostrophe 98
morphology 108-1 1; apposition see article
position 190-2; prepositions appositive vs. restrictive
required 207-8; restrictive relative 124-5
function 190-2; tables of Apulian dialect, present
endings 108,110 indicative 58; vowel system 47
adstratum 19 Arlia, C. 27
adverbs 114-15; position 194-5 army 36
advertising 16 article: before gn-, i + vowel, pn-, ps-,
affatto 126 +
s consonant, x- 102; definite vs.
affricates 13-14 indefinite 164-8;
affrication 74 morphology 102-3; part of name
Agard,F.B. 248 (L'Aquila, L a Spezia) 176;
agent 149 sequence of articles 172,208; table
agentive see accusative of forms 102; uses of articles 164-
aggettivi sostantivati 193 76; with appositions 171; with
agreement see adjectives; verb, past dates 103; with dei 67,103; with
participle; ad sensum 37,117-19; foreign words 102-3; with negative
with Lei forms of address 116-17, sentences 169; with place-
119; with numerals 131 names 174-6; with possessives 76,
252 Italian Language Today
article - cont. Castellani, A. 40
122-3,168; with proper names 103, Castiglione, B. 22
172-4; with superlatives 112 Cattaneo, G. 85
Ascoli, G. I. 24-6,30,33,52 causatives see fare
assimilation 55-6,75,151 Celati, G . 246
augmentative see suffixes central dialects 42
avanguardie 32 -cere verbs 140
auxiliaries 120-1,143-6,222-6 Cesari, A. 23
Chapallaz, M. 84
Baldelli,I. 18,247 che see comparatives; as a conjunction,
Bally, C. 247 omitted after certain verbs 126;
Battaglia, S. 248-9 conjunction vs. pronoun 125; in
Battisti, C. 40,249 exclamatives 126; interrogative
Beccaria, G. L. 249 che? vs. che cosa? vs. cosa? 123;
Bellini, B. 249 various usages 37,113-14,124-6,
bello, bel, belli, begli, bei 78, 109 238; vs. di in comparatives 113; vs.
Bembo, P. 22-3 il quale 124-5
bene 115 che glille for c cui 125
Benincir ,P. 244 checch.2 130
Berengarius I 21 checked syllables, in Latin 43
Bertinetto, P. M. 158 Chembini, F. 24,38
betacism 56 chi 123,125,127; as a free relative
[bl], Latin 55 (demonstrativelrelative) 125,127
Boccaccio, G. 22 chicchessia 130
boicottare 29 chiunque 130
Bolognese dialect, present ci, pleonastic 195
indicative 58; vowel system 46 cisi for si si 212-13,225
Bonfante, G. 39 -cia, -gia endings, plurals 109
bound direct speech see semi-direct -ciare verbs 140
speech ciascuno 129
Boycott, J. 29 Cicero 22
Brera, G. 85 Cicognani, B. 29
Bressan, D. 158 cinema 31
Brinker, J. H. 245 Cinque, G. 159,244-5
broad transcription 14 clitic clusters 212-14
Broglio, E. 24 clitics 93; see aho pronouns,
Brunet, J. 248 unstressed
Bruni, F. 247 Clivio, G. L. 85
Bulferetti, D. 38 closed see e, o ; syllables see checked
buono, buon 109 -co, -go endings, plurals 108
bureaucracy 36 codesto 127
Burzio, L. 159,248 colui, colei, coloro 127
comparatives 112-14,236; che vs.
-ca, -ga endings, plurals 108 di 113
cadence 62 compound nouns 183-8
Cafft?,I[ 23,38 conditional see verb; elimination in
Calvino, I . 17-18,158 dialects 57; for hearsay,
Camilli, A. 84 unconfirmed news 235,242; -ia
Canello, U. A. 61 forms 57; sentences 243-4;
Canepari, L. 84 vs. subjunctive in local varieties 76
capitals 101-2 conjugations 133
Carducci, G. 33 conjunctions 105-7; coordinating
-care verbs 140 105; subordinating 105-6
Carolingian renaissance 20 conjunctive see pronouns, unstressed
 Index 253
connective vowels 186 De Sica, V. 31
consecutio temporum see verb, Devoto, G. 46,247-9
sequence of tenses di: in indefinite + di + adjective
consonant: clusters 7 5 7 8 ; constructions 129; in
endings 69-70,78; weakening 52 noun + di + noun
constructions withiwithout constructions 170,208; vs. che see
prepositions 196-209 comparatives; with partitives 104-
Conte, M.-E. 245 5;withpM 112
contemporary Italian 78-84; diachronic vs, synchronic 41,183
lexis 82-4; morphology and dialect: literature 22-3; texts 58-61
syntax 78-82; phonology 78 dialects, English 11; Italian 11-15,
contralto, gender and number 111 20-2,28,30-7,41-58
coordination vs. subordination in Di Capua, L. 23
contemporary Italian 81 diceva che verrebbe vs. diceva che
Corradini, C. 35 sarebbe venuto 242
correlatives 114 different word shapes, reduced 78
Cortelazzo, M. 36,40,85,248-9 diminutives see suffixes; of first
Corti,M. 159 names 181
cosa? vs. che cosa? vs. che? 123 Di Pietro, R. J. 248
Costabile, N. 248 diretto legato, stile see semi-direct
costui, costei, costoro 127 speech
Council of Tours 21 disjunctive see pronouns, stressed
countables 129,166,169 [dj], Latin 53
Croce, B. 28,33 double consonants: in central and
Crusca, Accademia della 23 southern Italy 71-2; in
cucire, forms of the present 141 Florentine 63; in Italian 89-90; in
cui with article 125 northern Italy 13-14,71; reduction
cuocere, forms of the present 141 in dialects 55-6; trascription 84-
5; vs. single consonants 14,84,97
d'altra parte vs. dall'altraparte 170 doubling: of consonants, in irregular
da + time adverbials 232 verbs 150-1; of initial consonants
Dal Pozzo, F. 39 see syntactic doubling; of words for
D'Annunzio, G. 33 intensification 112
Dante 21-2,42,118 dovere, forms of the present 141
Dardano, M. 248-9 D'Ovidio, F. 27,39
dash vs. hyphen 100 Duecento and tredicesimo secolo 131
dates: cardinal numerals for days of the Durante, M. 247
month 131; ordinal numeral for the Duro,A. 249
first of the month 131; ordinal or
cardinal numerals for centuries 131 e, open vs. closed 64-5,70-1,89,99-
dative see accusative 100
De Amicis, E. 28 egli vs. esso vs. lui 116
defective see verb -ei vs. -etti in past historic 79,143
definite see article elision 76,94,98,103; in
De Mauro, T. 33-6,39-40,82,159, numerals 131
247-8 ellipsis in contemporary Italian 82
demonstratives 127-8; emigration 35
demonstrativelrelatives (free enclitics 93; see pronouns
relatives) 125,127 -ente vs. -iente participles 143
denominal verbs in contemporary epenthesis 49,75
Italian 80 ergative verbs 159
dental fricatives 52-3,74 essa vs. ella vs. lei 116
descriptive see adjective; verb, ethic dative 221
imperfect Evans,K. J. 245
254 Ztalian Language Today
fall: of final vowels 49,78,94;of Gesta Berengarii 21
unstressed vowels 49 giacere, forms of the present 141
falling tone 161 Giacomelli, G. 248
falling-rising tone 161 -giare verbs 140
Fanfani, P. 27 Gimson, A. C. 12
+
fare infinitive 121-2,150,214-16, Giolitti, G. 33
219-20,222 Giorgini, G. B. 24
fascism 29-30,82-3 given vs. new 162-5
feet, in metre 61 [gj], Latin 53
Fellini, F. 31 [gl], Latin 55
finch& 106-7,246 gli for feminine and plural dative 37,
Fiorelli, P . 84,249 79,118
First World War 36,82 glie-forgli,le, 119,212
[fl], Latin 55 -gliere verbs 141
Flora, F. 39 glottal: fricative 75;stop 75
Florentine 14,16,22-8,46,62-8,W -gnure verbs 140
focus 161-2 gorgia 67
Fogarasi, M. 248 Gouano, G. 33
Folena, G. 159 gronde, gmn 109-10
foot-ball teams, gender of names 176 Grandgent, C . H. 79,109-10
foreign: students, choice of Grassi, C. 36,40
phonological system 15,W;words grave accents 99
in contemporary Italian 82, Grego, M. 248
articles they require 102-3, Gregory V,Pope 21
gender 111 Griffith, T. G. 247
formal vs. informal 15 Grosseto-Ancona line 42
Fornaciari, R. 28,39,248 Grossi, T. 38
fortis 67,73
four linguistic strata 13-14 h 96-7
free: indirect speech see semi-indirect Hall, R. A., Jr. 247-8
speech; relatives (demonstrative1 Halliday, M. A. K. 244
relatives) 125,127;syllables, in Hazon, M. 249
Latin 43,46 head 183
fricativization 74 hearsay, conditional for 235,242
Friulian dialect text 59 heavy syllables, in Latin 43
fuori di vs. fiori da 209 historical imperfect see imperfect
future see verb; elimination in Holtus, G. 18,40
dialects 57;vs. present in local hyphen see dash
varieties 76 hypocoristic forms of first names 181
-g- verbal infix 141 i: as a connective vowel 186;as a
Gadda, C. E. 31 diacritic 97;in plurals 109;in verb
Gallo-Italian: consonant clusters 49; forms 140-1
dialects 41-2,78;vowels 48-9 [i] vs. [j] 89
-gare verbs 140 -ia see conditional
Gelli, G. 22 -iare verbs 140
gender see foreign words; difference for -ie endings, plurals 110
singular and plural 110;for il quale vs. che 124-5
professional terms 11 1 imperative see verb
Gensini, S. 247 imperfect see verb; first singular
Gentile, G. 30 ending 78;narrative or historical
-gere verbs 140 use 81,231
gerund see verb; never adjectival 148; imperfetto see verb, imperfect
vs. participle 148,159 impersonal see si; verbs 144,234-5
 Index 255
inchoative see verb La Spezia-Rimini line 42
indefinite see article; numerals 132-3, Ladinian 42
for age 133 lasciare + infinitive 121-2,150,214-
indefinites 128-30 16,219-220
indicative vs. subjunctive 37; in local Latin 13,19-21,41,150,177;
varieties 76 consonants 51-2; vowels 42-5
indirect interrogatives 236-7 Latinate comparatives and
indiretto libero, stile see semi-indirect superlatives 113
speech le si compra vs. le si comprano 227
in due 132 learned vs. popular development 61
industrialization 35 Lei, form of address 29,39,116-19;
infinitive see verb; elimination in agreement 116-19; subjunctive for
dialects 57; used as a noun 148 imperative 120,232; vs. Loro vs.
informal see formal Voi 116-17
inherently reflexive 222 length 42
intensification 112-13 lenis 73
internal migration 35-6 lenition 52
International Phonetic Association 61 Lennie, D. 248
interrogative intonation 124,161 Lepschy, G. 40,158-9,244-6
interrogatives 123-4 letters, names I l l ; vs. sounds 95-6
intonation 63,161 level-rising tone 161
intransitive see verb light syllables, in Latin 43
invariable nouns and adjectives 110- Ligurian dialect text 58
11 linguaioli 26-7
-io endings, plurals 109 linguistic minorities 11,34,40
irregular verbs see verb literacy 34-5
-ire- verbal infix 133 [Ij], Latin 54
isogloss 42,61 [ljJvs[AJ 74
-issirno with adjectives 112; with [Ill, Latin 56
nouns 112 lo, neutral usage 118
Istriote 42 Lo Cascio, V. 245,248
Italian: letters and sounds, table 95- local: dialect 13-14; varieties 13-16,
6; regions, names, use of article 175 37,41, lexis 76-8, morphology
italiano popolare see popular Italian and syntax 76, phonology 15,
italiano settoriale see sectional Italian 37,62-75
Lombardo Radice, G. 39
[j], Latin 53-5 long vs. short 43
Jaberg, K. 247 lor0 118
Jernej, J . 248 Lucania 45
Jones,D. 12 Lucanian vowel system 48
Jones, F. J. 248 Luther, M. 25
Jud, J. 247
juxtaposed nouns 80-1,188-90 McCormick, C. A. 248
Machiavelli, N. 22
killer vs. sicario 30 main clause 238-44
[kj], Latin 53 male 115
[kl], Latin 55 Manzoni, A. 23-6,33,38,79,181
Klajn, I. 248 Marchigiano vowel system 48
Klein, G. 39 marked vs. unmarked 162-3
known see given Marotta, G . 158
[kt], Latin 56 Masina, G. 163
mass in the vernacular 37
la, neutral usage 118 massimo 113
la si compra vs. se la compra 227 Matteucci, C. 35
 256 Italian Language Today
medesimo 128 Neapolitan 20; dialect text 60
media 17,37 negatives 126-7,246; double 126;
meglio 113,115 imperative 119-20; with
Meneghello, L. 18,31 articles 169; with partitives 104
meno 112 Nencioni, G. 248
-mente 114 neologisms in contemporary
Merlo, C. 52 Italian 82
metaphonesis see metaphony neuter, survival from Latin 56-7
metaphony 13,50-1 new see given
metre, Latin 43 Newman, J. 245
Meyer-Liibke, W. 52 newspapers 37
mezzo 132 niente, with nouns and adjectives 127
mica 126 [nj]vs.bJ 74
microbo vs. microbio, plural nodaro vs. notajo 38
microbi 158 nominal: predicates 170; style in
Middle Ages 19 contemporary Italian 81
Migliorini, B. 247-9 non, pleonastic 107,113-14,246
Milanese dialect, present northern: dialects 41; Italian syllable
indicative 58 structure 49; standard 7-8,15,
miliardo (di) 130-1 90- 1
milione (di) 130-1 noun: morphology 108-1 1; tables of
minimal pairs 42 endings 108,110
minimo 113 noun + adjective compounds 184-5
mixed vowels 49 noun + noun compounds 183-4
[mj], Latin 55 nucleus, tonic 161
modals see verb numerals 130-3,167-8;
modifier 183 cardinal 130; cardinal for
Monelli, P. 29-30 ordinal 131; indefinite 132-3;
Morante, E. 85 ordinal 131; ordinal, alternative
Moro, A. 32,83 forms 131; points vs. commas 130
morphology see adjectives; articles; nuocere, forms of the present 141
contemporary Italian; local varieties;
noun, morphology; verb, o, open vs. closed 64-6,70-1,89,99-
morphology 100
Morris, S . C. 245 o for uo in Florentine 25,69
Morselli, G. 85 -0-, connective vowel 186
movable dighthong see verb ogni 128
Muhatit, Z. 247,249 ognuno 128
Muller, H. F. 20 Oli, G. 249
muta cum liquida 43 -one, -ona with -c- infix
Muzio. G. 22 (bastoncino) 179
open see e, o; syllables see free
name and surname, order 174 Oscan 20
Napoli, D.-J. 159
narrative imperfect see imperfect palatal stops 55,70,74
narrow transcription 15 palatalization 52-3,74
nasalization 75 palatalized vowels 48-9,73
nasals, assimilated 74-5 Panzini, A. 248
national language 13-14 Parlangeli, 0. 32
(nd], Latin 20,56 parole macedonia 79
-ndo vs. -nte vs. English -ing 148 partitive 104-5, 118
ne 118-19,210-12; for direct Pascoli, G. 33
object 119; with essere-auxiliary Pasolini,P.P. 31-2,58
verbs 119,159 passato remoto see verb, past historic
 Index 257
passive see verb; in local varieties 76 possibile with superlatives 112
past: anterior see verb; definite see past Pratolini, V . 229-31
historic; historic see verb, elimination predicate and subject 162
in dialects 57, in contemporary prefixoids 80,186
Italian 81, in local varieties 76, preposition + noun compounds 188
participle see verb prepositions 103-5; with
Pautasso, M. 40 adjectives 207-8; with articles 76,
Pavese, C. 125 103-5, table of forms 104; with
peggio 113,115 nouns vs, pronouns 208-9; with
pejorative see suffixes verbs see verb
Pellegrini, G. B. 18 present see verb; paradigm in Latin,
perception verbs + infinitive 121-2, Italian, and several dialects 58;
216-20,222 subjunctive with subject
perfect see verb; or past historic for pronouns 143,160; vs. future in
habitual action within completed local varieties 76
period 230; vs. past historic in proclitics 93
northern varieties 76 professional terms for women 111
periodo ipotetico see conditional pronominal verbs see verb
sentences pronouns, personal 115-22; enclisis
Pernicone, V. 248 becoming obsolete 81; object
Petrarch, 22 forms 116-19; object forms for
Pfister, M. 249 subjects in dialects 57; object forms
phonemes 8; table of Florentine for subjects in local varieties 76;
phonemes 63; table of Italian order of subject forms 116; order of
phonemes 89 unstressed forms 118-22,212-14;
phonetic: symbols 250; pleonastic or redundant
transcription 8,61,95,250 repetition 37; reciprocal 220;
phonological system 89-91; reflexives 116,120-1,220-2;
Florentine 63; Italian 89 stressed forms 116-17; subject
phonology see local varieties forms 115-16; subject,
piacere, forms of the present 141 omitted 115; subject with present
Piedmontese dialect text 58 subjunctive 143,160; table of
Pieraccioni, D. 39 forms 116; unstressed forms 116,
Pirandello, L. 33,160 118-22; unstressed forms change to
pi3 112; vs. dipid 112 me, re, se, ve, glie- 119,212;
[pj] , Latin 54 unstressed forms with
[pl], Latin 55 imperative 120; unstressed forms
place-names with article see article with pronominal verbs 211;
pleonastic see ci; non; pronouns unstressed forms with si 227-8;
plurals 10s-11; see -ca, -ga; -cia, -@a; unstressed forms with
-CO,-go; -ie; -io verb + infinitive 120-1; unstressed
PO'vs. poco 129 forms in dialects 57; unstressed
polentoni 36 subject forms in local varieties 76,
political terms in contemporary 227
Italian 83 pronunciation, options for foreign
Ponza, M. 38 learners 15,90
popular: development see learned; proper names: modified 181; with
Italian 36-7; terms in article see article
contemporary Italian 83-4 proprio 122
position see adjective; adverb; prosthetic vowels 75,78
lengthening by 61 protasis 243-4
possessives 122-3; and article 76, Puglielli, A. 248
122-3; postposition in dialects 57; Pulgram, E. 126
table of forms 122 punctuation 100
258 Italian Language Today
punto 126 rising-falling tone 161
Puoti, B . 23 Rizzi, L. 248
purism 16,23,26-N,62 [rj], Latin 54
Rohlfs, G. 40,52,61,248
qvs. c 97 Romagnol dialect text 59
qualche 129 Roman dialect text 59
qualcosa, qualche cosa 129 Rossellini, R. 31
qualcuno, qualcheduno 129 Rossi, A. 40
quale, relative 125 Rovatti, P. 160
quality, in Latin and Romance RP see received pronunciation
vowels 43-5 Riiegg, R. 76,85
qualsiasi 129-30 Ruzzante 23
qualunque 129-30
quantity, in Latin and Romance s , voiced vs. voiceless 64-6,72-3,90
vowels 42-$61 Sabatini, A. 159
quanto as a free relative Sabatini, F. 85
(demonstrative/relative) 125 Salviati, L. 23
quel di, geographical 127 santo, san 109-10
quellisvedesi vs. quegli svedesi 127 sapere, forms of the present 141
quello, quel, quelli, quegli, quei 78, Sardinian 42,45; dialect text 61;
109,127 present indicative 58; velars 53;
questi, quegli as singulars 127 vowel system 47
questione della lingua 22,26,28 Savoia, L. 84
quest0 vs. quello 127 sc [j] vs. [stj] 158
Quinn,A. 163 Scelba, M. 182
Quirk, R. 246 scenfrato, scervellato, pronunciation of
sc- 158
r, prepalatal 75 -scere verbs 140
Radford, A. 248 -share verbs 140
radio 37 scientific terms in contemporary
Radtke, E. 18,40 Italian 83
Ragazzini, G. 249 scrosciare, of bread 28
ragazzo 13-14 sd, sk stesso 117,128
received pronunciation 11-12,15 Second World War 83
reciprocal see pronouns sectional varieties 16-18,62;
reflexive see pronouns; verb geographical subdivisions 18;
regional: dialect 13; English 12; phonology 18
Italian 13-14,37,62, Segre, C. 247
see local varieties semiconsonants: in northern
Regula, M. 248 varieties 73; in southern
relative superlative 112 varieties 73
relatives 124-6; free relatives semi-direct speech 241,246
(demonstrativelrehtives) 125, 127 semi-indirect speech 246
Renzi, L. 159,244 sentir messa 38
-rere verbs 142 sequence: of articles see article; of
restrictive see adjective; vs. appositive tenses see verb
relative 124-5,173 servili see modals
retroflex consonants 56,75 sg [3] vs. [zd3] 158
Reynolds, B. 249 short see long
rheme vs. theme 161-2,165 si: first person plural 76,226-7;
+
rimanere past participle 149 impersonal 212,222-6;
rimenata 27 passive 222-3; reflexive 121,220-
-rire verbs 142 2; with unstressed pronouns 227-8
rising tone 161 sibilants 14
 Index 259
Sicilian: dialect text 60; school 21, surname for married women 174
47,57; vowel system 47 Svevo, I. 33
Sicily 45 syllable: in Italian dialects 49; in Latin
sigmatic perfect 150 and Romance 43-5; in local
simplificationof double varieties 74; quantity 43,61
consonants 55,71 synchronic see diachronic
Sinclair, D. J. 118 syncope 151
single consonants see double syntactic doubling 14,67-9,75,90,
consonants 120
singular vs. plural, distributive 111
[sj], Latin 54 tables of: adjective endings 108-10;
[sjl vs. [SI 74 article forms 102; letters and
Skey,M. 249 sounds 95-6; noun endings 108,
Skytte, G. 249 110; phonemes, Florentine 63,
social characterization 12 Italian 89; possessives 122;
solo, solamente, soltanto 195 prepositions + article 104;
sonorization 52,73-4 pronouns, personal 116; verb
soprano, gender and number 111 conjugations 133-9
sostantivati see aggettivi sostantivati tacere, forms of the present 141
southern: dialects 42; Italian Tagliavini, C. 39,84,249
unstressed vowel weakening 49 tale 129
spelling 95-102; telephone 96 TekavEiC, P . 248
spirantization 52,67,73 television 37
sport 16 Ten Brink, B. 45
standard language 22 terroni 36
stare + gerund 148 theme see rheme
stesso 117,128 timbre see quality
stile diretto legato see semi-direct speech time, various indications 132
stile indiretto Iibero see semi-indirect Timpanaro, S. 38
speech titles of books etc. 101,172
Strasbourg Oaths 21 tizio 129
stress 91-4; alternative [tj], Latin 53
positions 93-4; in compounds 92- Tolomei, C. 22
3; in verb forms see verb; rhythmic Tommaseo, N. 249
rule 92; secondary 92-3 . tonality 161
strong forms of verb 150 tone groups 161
Stussi, A. 61,247 tones 161
subject see predicate; as a whole, vs. tonic 161
part of 221 tonicity 161
subjunctive see verb; for third person toscaneggiare 28
imperative 120; vs. indicative in toso 13-14
contemporary Italian 81; vs. transitive see verb
indicative in local varieties 76; vs. Trifone, P . 248
indicative in popular Italian 37 Trissino, G. 22
subordinate clause 238-44 truncation 76,94,102-3,174
subordination see coordination Turinese e and o 70
substratum 19-20 Tuscan: dialects 41-2; texts 21;
suffixes: combination 180; vowel system 45
evaluative 176-82; tutti e due 128
productive 177; superlative 112- tutto 128
13; used as independent words 179;
with adverbs 180; with verbs 180 [u] vs. [w] 89
superlative 112-14,236 Umbrian texts 21
superstratum 19 Umlaut 50
260 Italian Language Today
un po', unpoco 129 stress position in verb forms 139-
un tale 129 40; subjunctive 113-14,232-8;
untizio 129 subjunctive for imperative 120,
unconfirmed news, conditional 232; table of conjugations 133-9;
for 235,242 transitives 143,145; verb and
undicesimovs. undecimo vs. infinitive 120-1,144,214-20
decimoprimo 131 verb final order in local varieties 76
unmarked see marked +
verb noun compounds 186-7
uno, numeral 131; pronoun 129-30 verb + verb compounds 188
urbanization 35-6 verrebbe vs. sarebbe venuto, diceva
che 242
Vanoni,O. 18 Verga, G . 33
varieties of Italian 15,34,37,41,62- vernacular 19-22
86 Verri, A. and P. 23,38
Vatican Council, Second 37 vezzeggiativi see suffixes
velarization 73 Virgil 22
Venetia 13-15,36,41 Visconti, L. 31
Venetian dialect, present Vocabolario degli Accademici della
indicative 58; text 59 Crusca 23-4
Veneziano, A. 23 voicing see sonorization
venire + gerund 148; + past vowel: clusters 75; length 94-5;
participle 149 length in diphthongs 94-5;
verb: conditional 235,241-4; northern varieties 73; southern
defective verbs 157-8; varieties 73; system, Abnuzese
future 146-7; gerund 147-8; 48, Apulian 47, Bolognese 46,
imperative with Lei form 120,232; Lucanian 48, Marchigiano 48,
imperative with negatives 119-20; Sardinian 47, Sicilian 47,
imperative with unstressed Tuscan 45
pronouns 120; imperfect 228-32;
inchoatives 140-1,159; Wartburg, W. von 20
infinitive 148-9; intransitives 143, Watson, D. 245
145; irregular verbs 150-7; weak forms of verb 150
modals 121,144-6,211,225; Wilkins,E.H. 79,248
morphology 133-43; movable word: division 100-1; order 76,
diphthong 142-3,151; 161-4; shortening in contemporary
passive 149-50,164; past Italian 79
anterior 147,241; past
historic 143,228-31; past yod see [j]
participle 147,209-11,223-4,245;
perfect 228-32; prepositions z, voiced vs. voiceless 64-7,72,90
required 196-207; present 146; zero suffixation in contemporary
pronominal verbs 144,211,222-3, Italian 79-80
225; reflexive verbs 120-1,144, Zingarelli, N. 249
211; sequence of tenses 238-41; Zolli, P. 249