Modern Italian Grammar: A Practical Guide, Third Edition (2013)

Introduction

Modern Italian Grammar follows an entirely new approach to learning Italian. It looks at grammar not as the ultimate goal, but as the tool with which to construct a dialogue or a piece of writing.

Modern Italian Grammar is specifically designed to be accessible to the English reader not brought up in the Italian tradition of grammar and language analysis. It is unique both in its combination of formal grammar reference section and guide to usage organised along functional lines, and the fact that it was compiled by an English mother-tongue teacher of Italian and an Italian native speaker, working closely together.

It is the ideal reference text to use with newer language courses, for both beginners and advanced learners.

The course books and textbooks published over the last two decades are based on the principles of the communicative approach to language learning, which recognises that the objective of any language learner is to communicate, to get one's message across, and that there can be many different ways of doing this, rather than a ‘right’ way and a ‘wrong’ way.

The communicative approach emphasises language functions rather than structures. Traditional reference grammars present language by structure, making them inaccessible to learners who have no knowledge of grammatical terminology. Modern Italian Grammar presents language by function, with examples of usage and full explanations of how to express specific functions in Part B. At the same time it retains the traditional presentation of language by structure in Part A, which illustrates language forms and grammatical systems in a schematic way: word formation and morphology, verb conjugations, tenses, use of conjunctions and verb constructions.

The language functions included have been based on the communicative functions listed in Nora Galli de Paratesi's Livello Soglia (1981), itself based on J.A. van Ek's The Threshold Level (1975), the statement of key language functions supported by the Council of Europe. We have expanded them to provide a richer variety of examples more suited to our target readership. The division into functional areas also takes account of general linguistic notions, which can occur in more than one function; these include notions such as presence or absence, time and space, cause and effect. Notions and functions are integrated throughout Part B, while the structures illustrated in Part A are accessed through extensive cross-referencing.

In our choice of examples, we have included as many different contexts as possible. Some examples are typical of everyday dialogue or writing; some have been taken from the press or television, others from contemporary texts.

Our guides and inspiration in putting together this grammar have been some of the recognised authorities in the area of Italian grammar in the last few decades: to them go our thanks and our recognition of the great debt we owe them: Anna-Laura and Giulio Lepschy (The Italian Language Today, Routledge, 1991); Marcello Sensini (Grammatica della lingua Italiana, Mondadori, 1990): Maurizio Dardano and Pietro Trifone (Grammatica Italiana, 3rd edition, Zanichelli, 1995); Luca Serianni (Grammatica italiana. Italiano comune e lingua letteraria, 2nd edition, UTET, 1991); Giampaolo Salvi and Laura Vanelli (Grammatica essenziale di riferimento della lingua italiana, De Agostini/Le Monnier, 1992).

Introduction to the third edition

This third edition of Modern Italian Grammar incorporates suggestions from readers and reviewers and updates texts taken from the press, particularly those in the later chapters. It builds on the work done jointly with my colleague and close friend Franco Cardo on the first two editions.

Sadly, Franco died soon after the second edition of Modern Italian Grammar came out. As a result, this third edition was prepared by me as sole author. I am grateful therefore to Italian friends and colleagues who agreed to look at new material and made the writing process less lonely. I would like to thank students and tutors of Italian at the Open University, on both Andante (Beginners' Italian) and Vivace (Intermediate Italian), for their useful and positive suggestions, and I would like to thank the Open University for allowing me study leave in order to finish this edition. Lastly, thanks to my family for their patience during the writing process.

Finally I wish all our readers ‘Buono Studio’.

Anna Proudfoot

How to use this book

Part A of the book (Chapters 1–7) is a reference guide to the grammatical structures or ‘building blocks’ of Italian: noun group, verbs, pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, adverbs. Where possible, tables are used to illustrate forms and patterns.

Part B of the book (Chapters 8–42) shows how grammar structures are used to express communicative ‘functions’ such as giving personal information, asking someone to do something, describing something, etc. The chapters are divided into five broad sections: I Giving and seeking factual information; II Actions affecting ourselves and others; III Expressing emotions, feelings, attitudes and opinions; IV Putting in context; and finally V Expanding the horizons, which looks at special types of language, for example the formal register, bureaucratic language, and the language of telephone and letter.

The table of contents at the front of the book shows the content of each section and chapter, for Part A and Part B. It is not in alphabetical order but set out according to the layout of the book.

At the end of the book, there is a full index: grammar structures, communicative functions and keywords are all listed in alphabetical order, using both Italian and English terms.

If you want to know how to express a particular function, for example ‘Asking if something is available’ or ‘Introducing yourself’, simply look it up in the index or in the table of contents. In Part B, you will find all the different ways in which you can say what you want, with an indication of where you can find further information on the grammar structures used, and references to related functions found in other parts of the book.

If, on the other hand, you know the grammatical name for the structure you want to use, for example personal pronouns or impersonal si, you can look that up in the index instead. You will find each grammar structure explained in Part A. Part A is also useful as an easy-to-use quick reference section, where you can remind yourself of the correct form, or check on a verb ending, for example. A glossary, which immediately follows this short guide, gives definitions of the grammatical terms used in this book, with examples.

Note that throughout the book an asterisk is used to denote a form or wording that does not actually exist or is incorrect, shown only to demonstrate a point.

Lastly, Italian and English keywords are indexed to make it easier for the reader to look up a particular point. Grammar terminology as well as Italian examples are listed in the index (for example you will find both lei and ‘personal pronouns’).

We hope you enjoy learning Italian using this book as a guide. Remember that some spoken skills such as pronunciation, intonation and stress cannot simply be learned from a book. But grammar structures are the foundation of any language, and this book will teach you how to use these structures to express what you want to say.

Anna Proudfoot and Francesco Cardo, 2005