A2 · The finish
The accent and the apostrophe
Your apostrophe owns things; this one only marks a missing vowel.
The accent sits on the last vowel when the stress falls there: città, caffè, perché, lunedì, però, più. English marks stress nowhere in writing, so there is no habit to adapt — only one to acquire.
It also separates words that would otherwise look the same: e (and) against è (is), la (the) against là (there), si (oneself) against sì (yes), da (from) against dà (gives), ne (of it) against né (nor).
There are two shapes: è open and é closed. In practice the closed one is needed in perché, in né and in a few other words ending in -ché.
The apostrophe stands where a vowel has dropped out: l'amico, un'amica, dell'acqua, c'è, d'accordo. That is its whole job. It never marks possession — « Marco's book » is il libro di Marco, with a preposition and no apostrophe anywhere.
It does not appear after masculine un, because nothing has dropped out of it: un amico. After feminine una it does, because the a is gone: un'amica. The apostrophe is carrying the gender.
And it appears on the short imperatives: va', da', fa', di', sta' — again a missing letter, not a contraction of two words in the English sense.
Die Form
| and — is | e — è |
| the — there | la — là |
| oneself — yes | si — sì |
| from — gives | da — dà |
| the friend | l’amico |
| a friend | un amico |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
The accent stands where the final vowel is stressed.
Il caffè in città costa di più.Coffee costs more in town.
It separates words that would otherwise look identical.
Marco è alto e magro.Marco is tall and thin.
The apostrophe stands where a vowel has dropped out.
C’è dell’acqua nel frigo.There is some water in the fridge.
After masculine un there is no apostrophe.
Ho un amico e un’amica a Roma.I have a male friend and a female friend in Rome.
Woran man es erkennt
- è
- sì
- là
- più
- l’
- un’
Beispielsätze
Sì, è vero: è là.Yes, it is true: it is over there.
Perché non vieni? — Perché non ho tempo.Why are you not coming? — Because I have no time.
Non bevo né caffè né tè.I drink neither coffee nor tea.
D’accordo, ci vediamo alle otto.All right, see you at eight.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
Your apostrophe does two jobs Italian never gives it. It never marks possession — il libro di Marco, and « Marco's » has no Italian shape at all — and it never joins two words the way « don't » does. Here it marks one thing: a vowel that fell out. Which is why un amico has none and un'amica has one — nothing fell out of un, and an a fell out of una. Put it on the masculine and you have written the wrong gender, not an untidy sentence.
The apostrophe marks a missing vowel and nothing else.
Jetzt selbst
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