from the top of the list to the bottom, and see if you can recall what they mean in English (uncover one green word at a time to check if you’ve remembered the meaning correctly). If you can go through the entire list, giving the correct English meaning for each of the Italian words / expressions without making more than three mistakes in total, then you’re done. If not, then go through the list again. Keep doing this, either working from the top of the list to the bottom or from the bottom to the top (it doesn’t matter which) until you can do it without making more than three mistakes.
Got it? Then let’s go!
| il weekend (eel weekend) | the weekend |
| romantico (roe-man-teek-oh) | romantic |
| fantastico (fan-tass-teek-oh) | fantastic |
| politico (pol-ee-teek-oh) | political |
| illogico (ee-lodge-eek-oh) | illogical |
| Ho (o) | I have |
| visitato (visit-art-oh) | visited |
| Ho visitato (o visit-art-oh) | I have visited / I visited / I did visit |
| Roma (roam-er) | Rome |
| Napoli (nap-oh-lee) | Naples |
| Ho visitato Napoli. (o visit-art-oh nap-oh-lee) | I have visited Naples / I visited Naples / I did visit Naples. |
| passato (pass-art-oh) | spent |
| Ho passato (o pass-art-oh) | I have spent / I spent / I did spend |
| Ha (a) | You have |
| Ha passato (a pass-art-oh) | You have spent / You spent / You did spend |
| Abbiamo (ab-ee-arm-oh) | We have |
| Abbiamo passato (ab-ee-arm-oh pass-art-oh) | We have spent / We spent / We did spend |
| settembre (se-tem-bray) | September |
| il Natale (eel nat-arl-ay) | Christmas |
| a Roma (a roam-er) | in Rome |
| in Italia (een eet-al-yer) | in Italy |
| in Svizzera (een zvee-tser-er) | in Switzerland |
| Abbiamo passato il Natale in Svizzera. (ab-ee-arm-oh pass-art-oh eel nat-arl-ay een zvee-tser-er) | We spent Christmas in Switzerland. |
| Ha passato settembre in Italia. (a pass-art-oh se-tem-bray een eet-al-yer) | You spent September in Italy. |
| e (ay) | and |
| Era (air-ah) | It was |
| Era fantastico. (air-ah fan-tass-teek-oh) | It was fantastic. |
| Il tempo era fantastico. (eel tem-poe air-ah fan-tass-teek-oh) | The weather was fantastic. |
| Ho passato il weekend a Roma – e wow, il tempo era fantastico. (o pass-art-oh eel weekend a roam-er ay wow, eel tem-poe air-ah fan-tass-teek-oh) | I spent the weekend in Rome – and wow, the weather was fantastic. |
Finished working through that checklist and made fewer than three mistakes?Yes? Wonderful!
As that’s the case, what I now want you to do is repeat exactly the same process with the checklist below, except that this time you’ll be reading through the English and trying to recall the Italian. You’ll be doing it the other way around. Just relax and work your way up and down the list until you can give the correct Italian translation for each of the English words / expressions again without making more than three mistakes in total. It’s not a competition – and I’m not asking you to memorise them. Just look at the English words (on the left-hand side) while you cover up the green Italian words on the right-hand side and see if you can remember how to say them in Italian. You’ll be surprised by how many you get right, even on the first try.
Okay, off you go!
| the weekend | il weekend (eel weekend) |
| romantic | romantico (roe-man-teek-oh) |
| fantastic | fantastico (fan-tass-teek-oh) |
| political | politico (pol-ee-teek-oh) |
| illogical | illogico (ee-lodge-eek-oh) |
| I have | Ho (o) |
| visited | visitato (visit-art-oh) |
| I have visited / I visited / I did visit | Ho visitato (o visit-art-oh) |
| Rome | Roma (roam-er) |
| Naples | Napoli (nap-oh-lee) |
| I have visited Naples / I visited Naples / I did visit Naples. | Ho visitato Napoli. (o visit-art-oh nap-oh-lee) |
| spent | passato (pass-art-oh) |
| I have spent / I spent / I did spend | Ho passato (o pass-art-oh) |
| You have | Ha (a) |
| You have spent / You spent / You did spend | Ha passato (a pass-art-oh) |
| We have | Abbiamo (ab-ee-arm-oh) |
| We have spent / We spent / We did spend | Abbiamo passato (ab-ee-arm-oh pass-art-oh) |
| September | settembre (se-tem-bray) |
| Christmas | il Natale (eel nat-arl-ay) |
| in Rome | a Roma (a roam-er) |
| in Italy | in Italia (een eet-al-yer) |
| in Switzerland | in Svizzera (een zvee-tser-er) |
| We spent Christmas in Switzerland. | Abbiamo passato il Natale in Svizzera. (ab-ee-arm-oh pass-art-oh eel nat-arl-ay een zvee-tser-er) |
| You spent September in Italy. | Ha passato settembre in Italia. (a pass-art-oh se-tem-bray een eet-al-yer) |
| and | e (ay) |
| It was | Era (air-ah) |
| It was fantastic. | Era fantastico. (air-ah fan-tass-teek-oh) |
| The weather was fantastic. | Il tempo era fantastico. (eel-tem-poe air-ah fan-tass-teek-oh) |
| I spent the weekend in Rome – and wow, the weather was fantastic. | Ho passato il weekend a Roma – e wow, il tempo era fantastico. (o pass-art-oh eel weekend a roam-er ay wow, eel-tem-poe air-ah fan-tass-teek-oh) |
Well, that’s it, you’re done with Chapter 1! Don’t forget, you mustn’t try to hold onto or remember anything you’ve learnt here. Anything you learn in earlier chapters will be brought up again and reinforced in later chapters. You don’t need to do extra work or make any effort to memorise anything. The book has been organised to do that for you. Off you go and have a rest. You’ve earned it!
Between Chapters Tip!
Between chapters, I’m going to be giving you various tips on language learning. These will range from useful tips about the Italian language itself to advice on how to fit learning a language into your daily routine. Ready for the first one? Here it is!
Tip Number One – study (at least a little) every day!
Learning a language is like building a fire – if you don’t tend to it, it will go out. So, once you have decided to learn
