My students often look puzzled when they hear Italians toss around the word Prego in all sorts of situations. “What does Prego even mean?!” they ask, as if it’s some secret code. So, let’s clear up the mystery of this super versatile Italian word!

1. The Polite “You’re Welcome”

First things first: Prego is what you say when someone thanks you with Grazie. It’s like a friendly handshake that says, “No problem, happy to help!” You’ll hear it all the time after a quick “Thank you!”

2. The “Here You Are” Moment

But wait, there’s more! When the barista hands you that steaming espresso or the waiter passes you the menu with a smile, they might say Prego. It’s their way of saying, “Here’s what you asked for!” Same goes for the taxi driver who opens the trunk for your luggage and drops a cheerful Prego—it’s like a little “Ta-da!” for their service.

3. The “Go Ahead” Nudge

Sometimes, Prego is a polite way to say, “Your turn!” Picture a shop clerk saying Prego to invite you to order or step forward. It’s a gentle nudge with a side of Italian charm.

So, Prego is like the Swiss Army knife of Italian words—polite, handy, and ready for any situation.

Allora… Prego, enjoy this post and have fun mastering Italian!

The Romans invented gender fluid nouns.

Often students are perplexed about nouns that are masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural. These ‘transgender nouns’ can be blamed on the Romans. Because they had neuter nouns in Latin and these neuter nouns are the roots of the Italian transgender nouns.

Many neuter nouns are from the third declension but some are from other declensions, such as the second or the fourth (my son is studying Latin, grazie Kevin).

Many of these nouns are parts of our body.

As you can see all these nouns are not only masculine in the singular and feminine in the plural but they all finish in a. 

The reason for this is because they were neuter in the second or third declensions in Latin and, so, they used to finish with a in the nominative, the accusative and vocative cases (grazie Kevin). 

Nowadays, there is still a place in Calabria called ‘Le Castella’. In Italian, it should be i castelli, the castles, but castellum used to be neuter in Latin and the plural castella is the version we are still using, we just added Le to sound really Italian!

Italian Beginners classes have been running online for several years and have been very successful: small groups, a conversational approach in a fun and relax environment are the keys for this success. Finally you can learn and enjoy our classes from everywhere in the world from the comfort of your home!

Full course description:

Fancy learning Italian? Whether you are planning a trip to Italy or you have decided to learn this beautiful, musical and colorful language for fun, let’s start with our Beginners course. In fact, we will learn how to introduce ourselves, to talk about ourselves, to order our breakfast in a café, and so much more. Grammar is immediately implemented in practical and useful conversational tasks, such as booking a table at a restaurant, placing an order and talking about likes and dislikes. It will also give you good foundations if you decide to progress with your Italian and join our next course.

At the end of each class, students will receive an email with notes from that day’s lesson, materials used, pdf pages and (optional) homework. And if you have to miss a class for any reason, don’t worry, you will also receive the video recording of any new grammar we worked on so you won’t fall behind. All the equipment needed to keep up their Italian during the week.

Booking your place is essential, and remember that this course is for a small group in order to allow students to fully participate and get the best learning experience.

Therefore, I would recommend that you book as soon as possible to avoid disappointment https://www.italiancork.com/italian-beginners-italiancork/

Details

Beginning January 8th
Wednesday from 7.30 – 9.00 pm (Irish time)
Online classes (ZOOM)
A 10 lesson course €140