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Italian/Week 8

The near future, and joining sentences together

Italian barely needs a future tense for near plans — the present does the job. Connectors then turn a list of sentences into a story.

Colours live this week

10 of 10 in play
Noun

A thing, a person or a place.

Verb

An action or a state — what is happening.

Adjective

Describes a noun.

Adverb

Modifies a verb or an adjective.

Article

the / a / some — and possessives like mon, ma.

Pronoun

Stands in for a noun — I, you, he, it.

Preposition

Links words together — to, in, of, for.

Conjunction

Joins two parts of a sentence.

Question word

Opens a question — where, when, how, why.

Fixed chunk

Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.

Teal conjunctions and gold sequence adverbs do the heavy lifting. Adverbs also carry a dotted underline, so you can pick them out at a glance.

Italian does not need a future tense here

This is where Italian parts company with French and Spanish. Where French says je vais manger and Spanish voy a comer, Italian simply uses the present and lets a time word do the work: domani mangio al ristorante — tomorrow I eat at the restaurant. There is a proper future tense, mangerò, and you will hear it, but for plans in the next few days the present is what Italians actually say. That is one whole tense you do not have to learn this week.

Present tense, future meaning

Time wordPresent tenseIn a sentenceEnglish
domanimangioDomani mangio al ristorante.Tomorrow I'm eating at the restaurant.
staseravadoStasera vado al cinema.This evening I'm going to the cinema.
dopoprendoDopo prendo un caffè.Later I'll have a coffee.
la prossima settimanapartoLa prossima settimana parto.Next week I'm leaving.

Connectors

Teal joins two ideas inside one sentence.

  • eand
    Ho mangiato e ho bevuto.I ate and I drank.

    Becomes ed before a word starting with e-.

  • mabut
    È buono ma caro.It's good but expensive.
  • perchébecause
    …perché sono [in pensione].…because I'm retired.
  • quindiso, therefore
  • alloraso, well then

    Also the single most common way to start a sentence in spoken Italian.

Sequence words

Gold puts your events in order. Four of these turn a heap of sentences into a narrative.

  • primafirst
    Prima, ho preso un caffè.First, I had a coffee.
  • poithen
    Poi, sono andato al parco.Then I went to the park.
  • dopoafterwards
    Dopo, ho visto mio figlio.Afterwards, I saw my son.
  • infinefinally
    Infine, sono tornato a casa.Finally, I went home.

Sentence frames

  1. 1

    Domani present tense verb.

    Tomorrow I'm going to ___.

  2. 2

    clause, ma / perché / quindi, clause

    …, but / because / so, …

    Any two clauses you already know, joined.

  3. 3

    Prima … poi … dopo … infine …

    First … then … afterwards … finally …

    The story spine. Hang anything you like on it.

A five-sentence story

Past, future and connectors together. Read it aloud, then rebuild it with your own day.

Prima, ho preso un caffè.

Poi, sono andato al parco.

Dopo, ho visto mio figlio.

Infine, sono tornato a casa.

Domani prenoto un tavolo.

Before you read the translation

  • 1Which sentence is about the future, and how can you tell?
  • 2Which four gold words carry the whole shape of the story?

First I had a coffee. Then I went to the park. Afterwards I saw my son. Finally I went home. Tomorrow I'm booking a table.

One more time on agreement

The story above is in the masculine speaker form — andato, tornato. If you are female, use andata and tornata. It is the same bold-and-slanted cue from Week 7, and it applies every time you use essere in the past. Note too that mio figlio takes no article, because single family members are the one exception to the rule from Week 2.

Daily mini-tasks

Listening this week

Podcast Italiano or Easy Italian — someone recounting a day

Podcast apps and YouTube

Listen for the prima … poi … dopo … infine skeleton underneath the story, and notice how often the present tense is doing future work.

Milestone

By the end of this week you should be able to:

  • 01Conjugate high-frequency verbs in the present for io, lei, lui/lei and noi.
  • 02Ask for directions, prices and times using the question words.
  • 03Recount yesterday in the passato prossimo, with both avere and essere.
  • 04Talk about near-future plans using the present tense and a time word.
  • 05Tell a short connected story using e, ma, perché, quindi, and prima / poi / dopo / infine.