Buona sera,

Tonight is my 1st night on this forum and I absolutely love it already. I am just beginning to learn Italian & have been using Rosetta Stone for a couple of weeks now. I must say, it is not doing the trick. 30 minutes on this site and I have gained 20 times more vocabulary terms than Rosetta Stone has provided so far. Although their program is a slow learning process, it does teach proper pronunciation and sentence structure. Although, I feel pressured to skip through their Core Lessons to learn more terms which are quickly forgotten. They try to completely submerge you in the language, but studying it for 1-2 hours per day won't get it done. I've been visiting Italian forums/websites/satellite channels/ etc.. and have found it VERY useful. I can't wait to learn more from you guys!

Ciao & Grazie,

Jeff

Welcome to the community Jeff. I would love to spend more time on here, but unfortunately work gets in the way.

Enjoy!

Salve. Ciao.

Jeff, I've got one word(among many others)for you. Flash cards!(va bene 2 words)

Make flash cards and your Italian learning will go through the roof!

Start with these words:

Use flash cards caro Jeff 24/7 at home in the kitchen, bathroom, hall way, basement, bed, back yard... Take them with you everywhere you go. To the gym, school,
doctor/dentista office, unemployment office, bank, market, girlfriend's house, il bagno, outhouse, ristorante e cosi via. And so on and so forth.
Take them out and study them at every chance possible. Get your friends involved. It's fun. It's interesting. It's a fun interesting hobby. You'll love it!

Here again are many important Italian words you need to know to
be able to understand and speak Italian. I noticed from the first
that these words kept coming up over and over again in conversation,
movies, TV, radio, books etc. etc.

Make flash cards oggi(today)

There are several classes of adverbs in Italian:

Adverbs of quality or manner:

bene- well, (BAY-nay)
meglio- better,(MEL-yo)
peggio- worse (PEG-gee-oh)
male- badly, (MAH-lay_
anche- also (ON-kay
cosi- as, like (coe-SEE)
pure- also, too, (POO-ray)
insieme- together (in-see-EH-may)
come- as, like
invece di - instead of


Adverbs of time:

Quando?- When?
sempre- always,
mai- never, (my)
oggi- today,
domani- tomorrow,
ieri- yesterday, (YEER-ree)
adesso- now, ora-now,
allora- then, poi-then, (owl-OH-rah)
dopo- after,
dopo domani, the day after tomorrow
prima(di)- before,
ancora- still,yet, non ancora-not yet (an-CORE-rah)
spesso(frequentemente)- often,
stasera- tonight,
presto- early,soon,
tardi- late,
a tempo- on time,
gia- already, (jah) (An importantissimo little word!)
subito & immediatamente- immediately, (SUE-be-toe)
di quando in quando- from time to time,
di solito- usually (dee SO-lee-toh)
fa-ago, tre giorni fa- 3 days ago,
fino a- until, (FEE-no)
frattanto- meanwhile,
raramente- rarely,seldom,
recentemente- recently, (ray-chin-tay-MINT-tay)
ultimo- last,
una volta- once,

Adverbs of Place:

Dove?-Where?,
Dov'e? Where is?
lontano-far, (loan-TAH-no)
vicino-near, (vee-CHEE-no)
dietro-behind, (dee-EH-tro)
davanti-in front of,
avanti-forward, (ah-VAHN-tee)
indietro-backward,
dentro-inside,
fuori-outside,
qua,qui-here,
li,la-there
giu-down (jew)
laggiu-down there (lah-JEW)
lassu-up there (lah-SUE)
accanto a - beside
sopra-above
sotto-below
tra,fra-between
via-away (vada via!-get out of here!)
attraverso- through
intorno,attorno - around
da nessuna parte - nowhere
da qualche parte - somewhere
dappertutto- everywhere
a destra - to the right
a sinistra to the left

Adverbs of quantity:

Quanto?- How much?
molto-much
troppo-too much
poco-little
tanto-so much
abbastanza-enough
quasi-almost
piu-more (pew)
meno-less
circa-nearly, about (CHEER-kah)
soltanto, solo, solamente-only (soul-TAHN-toh)
assai-much
piuttosto- rather Piuttosto caro. - Rather expensive.
probabilmente- probably (pro-bah-bill-MINT-teh)
piu o meno- more or less
veramente- indeed, really
purtroppo- unfortunately (purr-TROP-poh)

Le Domande - Questions

Come?- How
Quanto? How much
Quanti? Quante? How many?
Come mai?- How come? (Very common expression.)
Che? What? (Kay?)
Che cosa? What? Che? and Che cosa? are basically the samething.)
Quale? Which?
Chi?(key) Who?
Perche? Why?
Perche -because
Che tipo di...? What kind of...?
Dove? Where
Dov'e? Where is?
Dove ci vediamo? Where shall we meet?

Aggettivi importante

buono- good
buffo- funny
caldo- hot
fredo- cold
caro- costly
cattivo- bad
celibe (CHAY-lee-bay) single male
aperto- open
chniuso- closed
corto- short
debole- weak
forte- strong
difficile- difficult
facile- easy
gentile- nice
giovane- young (JOH-vah-knee)
grande- big
piccolo- little
grasso- fat
magro- skinny
innocente
lento- slow
libero- free, availiable
malato- sick
meschio- mean
morbido- soft
nubile- single female (NEW-bee-lay)
nuovo- new
occupato- busy
pesante- heavy
piacevole- pleasant
piccante- spicy hot
pieno- full
pigro- lazy
primo - first
profondo- deep
sbagliato- mistaken
scuro- dark
secco- dry
sordo- deaf
sporco- dirty
pulito- clean
umido- humid
vecchio- old
vivace- active
vuoto- empty
zitto- quiet

Prepositions - Don't forget to make flash cards!!!

a- to, at
da- from, by, sometimes at
di- of sometimes from, about
in- in into sometimes by, on
su- on sometimes upon
con- with
per- for, through sometimes in order to + verb

Sienna,
Thank you for the welcome!

Villa,
Well, I guess you strongly advise flash cards! Haha.
I will give it my best! Although, I must say, your list is quite overwhelming!

Hi jeff, I think u r in the right place 2 learn italian
a huge welcome 2 u

Welcome!----I hope---I could----give you----an hand!
Benvenuto!--Spero----possa------darti-------una mano!

Ciao

Thank you all.

I have a quick question. I'm doing more Rosetta Stone right now, and I am terribly confused. I wish they would give you an exact definition just as a reference

#1. Lei che cosa beve? - What are you drinking?
Io bevo dell'acqua. - I'm drinking water.

#2. Che cosa fa L'uomo? - What is the man doing?
L'uomo cucina. - The man is cooking.

Do I have these translated right?

#1: I don't understand why Lei is at the beginning. In the lesson its a woman is speaking to a man. I thought Lei was used for She/her? and why is it at the beginning? Wouldn't it be "Lui che cosa beve?" ... Hmmmmmmm...

#2 What is the purpose of "fa"?

These two confuse the hell out of me. Can someone translate them exactly, so I dont keep mixing them up?

Awww... so...
YOUR TANSLATION IS EXACT

#1
The female third person (Lei) is used instead of the second (Tu)[You]when you are speaking in a very formal way.
This is why Lei is translated with You

Formal way
(Lei) cosa beve?
Normal way
(Te) cosa bevi?
Translation
What are you drinking?

(I putted Lei and Te between brackets as they could be "sottointesi"-> "omitted as obvious" (obvious for a native speaker) )

#2
"fa" is the third person (present) of "fare" (to do):

--------------Che cosa----------fa----------L'uomo?
literally:----What----------is doing-----the man? (what is the man doing?)

I hope I explained everything

Thanks for the explanation. Now I have a few new questions. Haha.

Why did you leave out "che" in "te/Lei Cosa Beve?"

When would you use each of these? (te and Lei)

Does cosa literally mean "what"? If so, then what is the purpose of "che"?

Also, whats the difference between "che cosa" and "Che Cos'e?"

Rosetta Stone needs to have an answer sheet. These minor problems are such a huge set back

1) cosa and che cosa means literally what ("che" is usually omitted as "cosa" is faster to say, to read, to write than "che cosa")

2) You use lei instead of te when you have no confidence with the person you are talking to.
It is not used in forums/chats and when you are talking to boys.
But no one would blame you (as non native speaker) if you used "te" instead of "lei" ;P

Happy to help! Ask more question if you want to