Italian Language

Modified Italian verbs (alterati verbali) are formed using suffixes. The resulting verbs are diminutive and augmentative, or can convey a sense of repetition. Examples include: bucherellare, scoppiettare, and mangiucchiare.

Are you sano come un pesce? Transliterally, the Italian saying means "healthy (well, sound) as a fish"; in English, the idiomatic meaning is: "fit as a fiddle." There was a time when pollution was not as widespread as it is today, and it was unusual to see sick or dead fish floating or beached on riverbanks. Hence, the belief that fish had an iron constitution, were free of diseases, and never got sick.

Dantepoliglotta features over two hundred editions of translations of La Divina Commedia in sixty different languages and dialects. The project includes the frontispiece and one or more pages of each text.

There's an ill wind blowing in Sicily. As part of an investigation, the Direzione Investigativa Antimafia (DIA) seized record assets from a wind farm tycoon. Vito Nicastri, nicknamed re del vento (king of the wind) by the Italian press because of his vast wind farm holdings, was allegedly a front man for the Cosa Nostra, investing illegal earnings in his business empire.

Spin the suffixation wheel and watch nouns, verbs, and adjectives click by, paired up in almost every combination imaginable. Finally, the wheel stops at creating adjectives from verbs. Think of it as grammar tombola (a traditional Italian bingo-like game played at Christmas).

If you're looking for an Italian wine to go with red meat, game, or well-aged cheeses, Masi Costasera Amarone della Valpolicella Classico is the benchmark for the Amarone category. Amarone della Valpolicella is a typically rich Italian dry red wine made from the partially dried grapes of the Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara varieties from a specific growing zone of Italy's Veneto region. And what about the brand name Costasera? It refers to the slopes facing the sunset—costa (slope), sera (evening), which are the best ones in Valpolicella Classica for producing a high-quality Amarone. The day is longer so the vines, which overlook Lake Garda, benefit from the reflection of the light and its milder climate.

While it may seem grammatically recursive, it's possible to create nouns from nouns. All it takes is suffixation.

E voilà!, è magia! Through the transformative power of suffixation, adjectives can be created from nouns!

Here's a bit of admittedly faulty deductive grammatical reasoning (faulty if only because grammar isn't necessary logical). Using suffixation, nouns can be formed from verbs and verbs can be formed from adjectives. Therefore, doesn't it stand to reason that nouns can be created from adjectives?

He's also the latest Italian prime minister. Beppe Severgnini, op-ed columnist for the Corriere della Sera and author of several books (his most recent title is Italiani di domani. Otto porte sul futuro), has come up with a very imaginative analogy to describe the current political maelstrom in Italy. In a recent blog post, "Una luce in fondo al tunnel?," Severgnini employed verb tenses (and moods) to refer to past, present, and potentially future Italian prime ministers as well as the newly-elected president of Italy:

"Se Giuliano Amato è un participio passato, Franco Marini il passato remoto, Massimo D'Alema l'imperfetto, Romano Prodi l'infinito, Mario Monti il passato prossimo, Matteo Renzi il futuro, Silvio Berlusconi il condizionale e Giorgio Napolitano l'imperativo (grazie Presidente!), cos'è Enrico Letta? Il presente."

If nothing else, maybe the Italian government merry-go-round will help students understand Italian verbs better.