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A1

Italian A1: Beginner

At this level the language covers everything the first few days ask for: your name, where you are from, what you do, your family, numbers, the time, food and drink.

Sentences are short and stand on their own. Anyone who gets this far can say what is, what they have and what they want — not yet what happened yesterday.

Alphabet and pronunciation5

Alphabet and pronunciation

5

A1The alphabetTwenty-one letters, five guests and a silent h.A1VowelsFive letters, each one said clearly — even at the end of a word.A1c and g: hard or softThe next letter decides how c and g sound.A1Double consonants, gli and gnA double letter really is longer — and makes a different word.A1Stress and accentsUsually the second-to-last syllable — and an accent when it is the last.

Tenses and if-sentences5

The present tense

4

A1Present tense: -are verbsSix endings where English has one.A1Present tense: -ere, -ire verbsThe last three letters of the infinitive are information English does not carry.A1Dropping the subject pronounPutting io in is what English does by saying it louder.A1-ire verbs with -isc-It follows the stress — and English stress moves the same way.

The past

1

A1The passato prossimo with avereOne tense covering « I ate » and « I have eaten » alike.

Verbs: modals, si, subjunctive4

To be and to have

3

A1essere — to beSix forms, none of them regular — and two of them identical.A1avere — to haveAge, hunger and cold are had here, not been.A1There is: c'è, ci sonoEnglish already agrees here — as long as you write what you would write.

Can, must, want

1

A1Modals: potere, volere, dovereConjugated, and then the bare infinitive.

Articles, nouns and pronouns8

The articles

2

A1Definite article: il, lo, laThree masculine forms, two feminine — and a rule you already obey.A1Indefinite article: un, unoYour a and an, with one more form and an apostrophe that carries the gender.

The noun

1

A1Gender and number: -o, -aNothing is added — the vowel changes.

The adjectives

1

A1Adjective agreementEnglish has one form for everything; here there are four or two.

The pronouns

2

A1Possessives: il mio, la miaThe gender is the thing's, not the owner's — and an article comes first.A1Demonstratives: questo, quelloTwo distances, as in English — but quello reshapes itself.

Prepositions

2

A1Contractions: del, nel, alFive do it, the others never.A1a and in with placesOne word for being there and for going there.

Sentence structure3

Questions and negation

3

A1Asking questionsThere is no do to put in front.A1Negation with nonOne word — and again no auxiliary.A1The question wordsOne word for why and because.

Politeness, style, fine points3

Formal and informal you

2

A1Formal you: LeiYou address a stranger as though speaking about somebody else.A1Everyday polite phrasesFour words, and three of them do more than one job.

Fine points and style

1

A1Quantity words: molto, troppo« Very » and « many » are one word here, and it changes shape for only one of the two jobs.

Word lists at level A1

Lists: 14 · words: 713

Reading texts at level A1

Sentences from this level’s topics

Come si scrive il tuo cognome?How do you spell your surname?

Mio zio ha sei cani.My uncle has six dogs.

Mia cugina cucina bene.My cousin is a good cook.

Ho sete: alle sette bevo un tè.I'm thirsty: at seven I drink a cup of tea.

Practise level A1 only