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- "Tu mangi il pane."
155 Comments
Yes I agree this would be helpful. Like you I find the grammar the most difficult.I have tried to find some mnemonics. With lots of users I bet we can find something better than "Only Idiots Ask Any More Oranges And Then Eat Any Nice Orange -(O,I,A AMO ATE ANO) for present tense of words ending "are."
You can try conjuguemos.com to practice conjugating verbs. I'm pretty sure they have an Italian version.
I figured out that the conjugations are almlst the same in Italian as in French. Take French word aimer, to like. (BTW je means I, tu means you, il/elle means he/she, nous means we, vous means you or y'all, and ils/elles means they) Je-aime Tu-aimes Il/elle-aime Nous-aimons Vous-aimez Ils/elles-aiment But usually in Italian, it relates to a French conjugation ending in -ir, such as venir, to go Je-veni Tu-venies Il/elle-veni Nous-venons Vous-venez Ils/elles-venent So if the translation in Italian is "I," memorize this chart to help you.
They are different forms of the same verb (mangiare - to eat).
You use the form mangia when the subject of the verb is lui/lei or any third person singular subject (la donna, l'uomo, il cane, il gatto, etc). For example: la donna mangia il pane (the woman eats the bread)
You use the form mangio when the subject is io. For example: io mangio il pane (I eat the bread)
You use the form mangi when the subject is tu. For example: tu mangi il pane (you eat the bread)
Hope that helps. :)
You can see the complete conjugation of a verb in DL just like Robbadob illustrates above. Open a second tab or window and in it open DL. At the top of the screen, select the MORE icon and select Dictionary. In the search bar, type any conjugation of the verb you want to see. For example, type Mangio or Mangi and click Translate. The top of the result is the base verb, called the gerund, like Mangiare, which means "to eat". Scroll down the dictionary page and you'll find a chart much like Robbadob has shown us.
In the chart, the left column lists the "persons": io/I,
tu,/you,
lui lei/he she,
noi/we,
voi/you all,
loro/they.
You probably are most interested in the PRESENT column to the right of the "persons".
If the whole idea of verb conjugation is a mystery (it was to me when I started my first foreign language), search the web for "HOW TO CONJUGATE VERBS".
I suggest having one tab or window for learning and one for the dictionary so that they're both very handy.
Oh wow. Ok. 'Pane' is definitely masculine, and as such carries 'il', masculine singular 'the'. Some masculine singular nouns end in 'e' and some feminine singular nouns end in 'e'. When plural, they all change to 'i', male and female.
As for why it is "mangio il pane". That means " I eat the bread." However, NOTE that "mangia il pane" means "he/she eats the bread" or "You eat the bread ( polite singular)". Verbs do NOT change their endings to agree with noun endings, the ending change to reflect who is completing the action.
Mangio la mela= I eat the apple. Mangio il pane= I eat the bread.
I hope this clears up a bit of confusion.
Look at the ending of the noun. Although they are a few irregularities, when you come across them, you tend to remember what gender the word is and the irregularity. As a general rule of thumb however: Words ending with "a" are singular feminine and change to "e" when plural. la mela= le mele Words ending with "o" are singular masculine and change to "i" when plural. Il ragazzo= i ragazzi
I wouldn't use a microphone (if I had one). The pronunciations seem to be inconsistent. There is no "standard" in Italian, though I would think that an instruction course would keep the pronunciations as consistent as possible. perhaps you are not pronouncing the words as the course expects. I have enough trouble as it is hearing them - speakers turned up high. It's partly my hearing, and partly the inflection, but I think they should make an effort to pronounce the words more distinctly, and not run them together.
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Note: he doesn't say "Tu mangi il pane"---he says "Tu mangi pane". If you play it slowly, there is an "il" there.
First read jesslc above it should help. Then check out these sites for new users.
http://www.duolingo.com/comment/1352379 http://www.duolingo.com/comment/1426103 http://www.duolingo.com/comment/1278938
If you need help check the guides or come back to ask. Good luck on your journey in learning.