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A Carnevale ogni Scherzo Vale (any joke is allowed for Carnevale)
A Carnevale ogni scherzo vale (any joke is allowed for Carnevale)! We have been celebrating Carnevale for a while in Italy and today is martedì grasso (fat Tuesday), last day before il mercoledì delle ceneri (ash Wednesday). Therefore, celebrations get wild and children are on school holidays all week, they didn’t have the mid term break, […]
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Why is Italian so popular in Cork?
It appears that in the last year, Italian became more and more popular among the people of Cork and the number of beginners has increased exponentially (in the school where I teach). So much so that the Beginners course we started at the end of January at the College of Commerce was fully booked […]
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No school in Italy tomorrow… Grazie Befana!
Italian children won’t go to school tomorrow and their parents won’t go to work either as the Epifania (Epiphany) is considered a festivity in Italy. It is, in fact, an important day for us as we all are celebrating our Befana. Children are very excited and have put up their calze (socks) so that the […]
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PRESEPE o ALBERO DI NATALE… che tipo sei?
Presepe o Albero di Natale… che tipo sei (are you a crib person or a Christmas tree person )? It is Christmas time and wherever you go in Italy you will find not only Christmas trees, but also our presepi (cribs). In spite of the fact that the Christmas tree is becoming very popular in […]
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Canzoni Italiane… di Natale!
Canzoni Italiane… di Natale! It is Christmas’ time and at this time of the year, in any shop you go to, Christmas’ Carols are playing. What about Italian Christmas’ Carols? You can find them, but you should look for Christmas’ songs. In fact, in English you have the word carols in order to refer to […]
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BUON NATALE A TUTTI VOI! Let’s write our greetings…
Tanti auguri di Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo a tutti! Do you want to send some Italian Christmas greetings this year? Perhaps, you’d also like to say Happy New Year and show off your Italian subjunctive… Here are some suggestions, pick the ones that suit you best! The most common of our Italian Christmas […]
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The POWER of the PRESENT tense
Don’t worry, this is nothing to do with self help, but you might find it interesting that the present is a very important tense in Italian and that it is used very much more than its corresponding English tense. Here are some examples of present tenses: vado a scuola (I go to school, I am […]
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Something weird in your CONTO?
Have you ever been to an Italian restaurant? If you have, did you notice something unusual in your ‘conto’ (bill)? Sometimes, my students ask me what the term ‘coperto’ on the bill means… Literally, it means something which is covered, but this is not saying much. The majority of them think that it is the […]
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FARE LE CORNA… a qualcuno…
This is similar to the expression ‘fare le corna’, but it is not the same thing at all. In fact, fare le ‘corna a qualcuno’ means to cheat on someone and the word ‘cornuto’ or ‘cornuta’ is an insult which means that the person insulted is cheated on by their partners either wife or husband […]
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FACCIAMO LE CORNA!
Facciamo le corna is an expression used all the time by Italian people which raises much interest among my students for its cultural peculiarity. It literally means ‘let’s make horns’ and it makes no sense for you, of course. Let me introduce you to the Italian concept of ‘Le corna’ : it is usually a […]
