Italian All-in-One For Dummies (108 page)

Ne
can substitute for words that indicate quantity, such as
molto, parecchio, tanto
(all which mean
a lot
), and
un po' di
(
a little;
some
). For example,
Vorresti un po' d'acqua? Ne vorrei proprio un po', grazie
(
Would you like a little water? I'd like just a little, thanks
).

Ne
is used idiomatically when asking the date:
Quanti ne abbiamo oggi?
(
What day of the month is today?
)

When you address someone directly, you don't use
ne
but rather repeat the preposition + personal pronoun construction:

Hai sentito parlare di me? Ho sentito parlare di te.
(Have you heard anything about me? Yes, I have [heard something about you].
)

When
ne
substitutes for a partitive, the past participle agrees in number and gender with the object it replaces, as in
Hanno bevuto tanta birra? Sì, ne hanno bevuta tanta
(
Did they drink a lot of beer? Yes, they drank a lot [of it]
).

When the Subject Is Also the Object: Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns convey that the subject is also the recipient of the action, as in
Mi lavo ogni mattina
(
I wash myself every morning
). You use these pronouns with reflexive verbs (see
Chapter 3
in Book IV for details).
Table 3-6
lists the pronouns.

Table 3-6 Reflexive Pronouns

When conjugating a reflexive verb, conjugate it exactly as you would a verb that's not reflexive, but place the reflexive pronoun in front of the conjugated verb:

Marco si sveglia ogni mattina alle 6:00 ma non si alza fino alle 6:30. Io mi sveglio alle 6:00 ma mi alzo subito.
(
Marco wakes up every morning at 6:00, but he doesn't get out of bed until 6:30. I wake up every morning at 6:00, but I get up immediately.
)

Chapter 4

Adjectives, Adverbs, and Comparisons

In This Chapter

Coordinating nouns and adjectives

Locating the best spots in a sentence for adjectives

Creating adverbs and putting them in the proper spot

Establishing comparisons and rankings

I
f you say
Marina ha una casa grande
(
Marina has a big house
) or
Marina ha una casa piccola
(
Marina has a small house
), all that changes is one word, but you're saying two very different things.
Grande
(
big
) and
piccola
(
small
) are adjectives that convey qualities of people, animals, objects, and situations. In Italian, as in English, you employ adjectives with nouns, names, and pronouns.

Adverbs are a part of speech that helps you describe actions. In both Italian and English, adverbs are invariable, which means that you don't need to match them to the words they modify. You can add an adverb to qualify a verb, an adjective, a noun, a sentence, and even another adverb. For example, if you say
È molto presto
(
It's very early
), you're using two adverbs —
molto
and
presto
— together.

In using adjectives and adverbs, you may want to establish comparisons and rankings between two or more things or people. Consider these examples:
Gianni è alto come Umberto
(
Gianni is as tall as Umberto
);
Pino è il più alto della classe
(
Pino is the tallest in his class
); and
È arrivata più tardi del solito
(
She arrived later than usual
).

This chapter explains the various endings adjectives can have as well as the differences between masculine and feminine, singular and plural adjectives and how to match them to the words they refer to. It also talks about where to place adjectives in the sentence. As for adverbs, this chapter explains the difference between original and derived adverbs and how to form the latter. It also gives you suggestions for their placement in sentences. The chapter wraps up with coverage of comparatives and superlatives, helping you figure out how to use them to best express yourself.

Matching Adjectives to Nouns in Gender and Number

In Italian, you must match adjectives in gender and number to the nouns they modify. You need a masculine singular adjective with a masculine singular noun, a feminine singular adjective with a feminine singular noun, and so forth. For example,
Maria + bello
→
Maria è bella
(
Maria is beautiful
).

Note:
A few adjectives are invariable; they have only one form. See the most important ones in the later section “
Invariable adjectives
.”

When you match an adjective and a noun, you may end up with two words with the same ending, as in
Il cavallo è piccolo
(
The horse is small
), or you may not, as in
Il cavallo è intelligente
(
The horse is smart
). If you check the possible endings of nouns listed in
Chapter 2
in Book III and look at the possible endings of adjectives listed in this chapter, you can come up with several combinations. (This is a good exercise for you to practice your mastery of noun-adjective endings and combinations.)

To come up with the right match, you must consider the gender of the noun and then choose the gender of the adjective. For example, if you choose the feminine noun
penna
(
pen
) and the adjective
verde
(
green
), the right combination is
penna verde
(
green pen
); if you choose the noun
quaderno
(
notebook
), which ends in
-o,
and the adjective
verde
(
green
), which ends in
-e,
the right combination is
quaderno verde
(
green notebook
) because the adjective
verde
has one ending for both the masculine and feminine genders.

Adjectives fit into one of three categories, depending on how they change to match a noun's gender and number.

Regular adjectives
vary in their endings depending on gender (masculine or feminine) and/or number (singular or plural). Regular adjectives are clustered in three broad categories:

•
Those with four endings
(masculine and feminine, singular and plural)

•
Those with two endings
(singular and plural)

•
Those with three endings,
one for the singular (masculine and feminine) and two for the plural

Irregular adjectives
change the spelling of several letters, not just the last one, especially when going from singular to plural.

Invariable adjectives
are few and far between; you don't need to change their ending when you match them to the words they describe.

The following sections are organized according to the categories in the preceding list. When you finish them, you should be able to take an adjective you've never seen before and place it in the proper group just by looking at its ending. When in doubt, as usual, consult a dictionary.