Learning Italian: I need help!

Grazie! Sono molto riconoscente della tua assistenza.

The next class starts in three weeks, so I hope you'll still be around.

Can somebody tell me what the words "c'e" and/or c'i" means? And how would they be pronounced? I've seen c'e somewhere, and I think I saw c'i too, but I don't know where now, and I can't find it in my italian dictionary.

I hope my friendly A2K teachers are still around.

Hi kickycan

c'è and ci sono mean there is and there are respectively.

C'è un gatto sul divano - There is a cat on the sofa
Ci sono quattro piatti sulla tavola - There are four dishes on the table
C'è qualcuno con cui posso parlare? - Is there anyone I can talk to?

Sometimes c'è and ci sono are used to put some emphasis on the verb (or to convey a somewhat hidden meaning to the sentence). In this case in English you use only the verb to be.
Examples:
Ci sono libri nella scatola? - Are there books in the box?
(I don't know what is in the box)
Ci sono i libri nella scatola? - Are the books in the box?
(I know they were there and they should still be there - you can also say, like in English: I libri sono nella scatola?)

Anyway the use of c'è / ci sono is very similar to that of there is / there are.

C'è is pronounced like in cheque
Ci is pronounced like in chin

There is no c'i in Italian.
Ci can be found in c'è (= ci è) and of course ci sono or it can be used as a place adverb:
Ci vado - I'll go there

Ci means also us:
Ci disse di rimanere - He told us to stay
Ci diede un regalo - She gave us a present

Hey, luukas, how are you doin'? Glad to see you're still around. Thanks once again.

I found a site that lists this phrase, among others. Whenever I find a sight like this though, I'm skeptical about it's accuracy. Could you take a look and let me know if it's a total piece of crap, or if I can actually use most of these expressions? I don't expect you to go through each one (there are a lot of expressions here), just a quick summary, if possible. Thank you in advance.

http://www.really-fine.com/Italian_colloquial.html

Okay, I hope someone can help me again, because it's getting tougher and tougher in this italian class. I have two questions.

The first one is about usage of articles with the possessive "loro" and family members. I know that, as a rule, you always put the article in with plural family members, and never use it with the singular.

But last week my teacher said that loro was the exception, and that you should use the article with loro and singular family members. This week, he wasn't there, and the teacher who taught the class tonight said that you don't use the article with loro.

So which one is right?

For example: I'm going with their mother.

Vado con loro madre?

or is it

Vado con la loro madre.

Is it a situation where you can use the article sometimes? I'm confused. Aiuto!

The second one is simpler. It's about the word "ananas".

All' ananas

or

All'ananas

Is it written as two separate words, or just one?

Hey kickycan, you know what? I don't kow the answer to your first question
It might sound strange but I'm not so sure that I use 'loro' as a possessive pronoun very often.
Anyway right now this is what sounds more correct to my ear...
(a) when 'loro' comes after a preposition I would leave the article out:
i bambini stavano giocando con loro zio - the children were playing with their uncle
(b) otherwise I would use the article (but I'm not so sure it would always sound correct)
La loro madre è partita un'ora fa - Their mother left an hour ago

2nd question:
the apostrophe always separates two words, usually an article or a preposition + article, but when we type we don't put a blank space between the apostrophe and the following word, unlike with commas:
nell'aria - all'amico

I looked the first question up in Da Capo, a grammar review by Graziana Lazzarino (Holt Reinhart Winston) that I remember spending a lot of time with a decade ago...

quote -
The possessive adjective is used without the definite article when it modifies nouns expressing a family relationship in the singular. Il loro is an exception, it always requires an article.

They say - il loro fratello, i loro fratelli

Aah, interesting. So maybe that's a rule that is not followed so strictly today? Maybe it's one of those things where the language is changing, and the proper usage is not common anymore.

I guess I'll just figure that one out as I go. Thanks Osso.

And I have another question. (that teacher we had last night has gotten me so confused! )

Do the articulate prepositions (alla, nel, degli, etc.) change according to the word that comes after it?

For example, last night we had this sentence, in which we had to fill in the blank with an articulate preposition.

Chi abita _____ splendido appartamento 2C?

Now, I thought that since it's "l'appartamento", and I want to use the prepositional phrase "in the", the sentence should say:

Chi abita nell' splendido appartamento 2C?

But I was told that, because the word "splendido" is there, it changes to

Chi abita nello splendido appartamento 2C?

Do the articles change like that? If so, then if you took the word splendido out, then you would use nell'. Correct?

Thanks

Glad to see you're still around, Luukas. I appreciate your help so very much.

Now that I just wrote that, I think it just clicked in my head and I get it now. The word nell' actually is just short for nello or nella, isn't it? So the vowel does get replaced with the apostrophe because of the word "splendido". It's not really changing the word, it's just shortening it to work within that sentence.

I think that's right.

Okay, just trying this with other examples to get it in my head...

It would be

dello studente (of the student)

but, it would be

dell'intelligente studente (of the intelligent student)

and it would be

sullo tavolo (on the table)

but it would be

sull'inconsueto tavolo (on the unusual table)

Right?

Perfect ansew, there's nothing I can add.

Back to 'loro', it seems that it always needs the article, as also ossobuco has written (that is also what a book I have at home says). Anyway I haven't changed my mind and I still think that I use it in the way I said in my previous post.
But I can't tell if this is the case of a rule that is slowly changing.
Anyway I want to explain why I wrote that I don't use it very often, at least not with nouns expressing a family relationship. Here's how I would translate the following sentences:

The children went to the movies with their mother
I bambini andarono al cinema con la madre (or: con la mamma)

Anna and Paolo bought a present for their grandfather
Anna e Paolo comprarono un regalo per il nonno.

...this means that in similar cases I would simply leave the possessive pronoun (actually it is an adjective in these cases) out.

That makes sense, luukas, I think that's the way I usually see the possessive skipped in favor of just the article.

Okay, trying to wrap my head around that, Luukas. Just to make sure...

This is only true for the word "loro" then, right? It's the exception to the rule.

In other words, you would never leave out the word vostro, nostro, etc., correct?

I don-t know if this is what you're asking, but...

We are going to the movies with our dad
"Andiamo al cinema col babbo" is correct. No need for "con il nostro".

Damn, there are always exceptions, aren't there? What I am gathering here, is that there seems to be a lot of special cases in regard to the use of possessive pronouns with family members. I guess the only way I'm going to learn this is through practice, practice, practice. *sigh*

It looks to me as if italians use 'the dad', 'the grandfather', 'the cousins' - wasn't there a movie, I Cugini? - much more than not...

Unfortunately, I don't know how to spell this stuff so good, as I tend to learn it by ear.

Che notataccia! (what a night!)
Che giornataccia! (what a day!)
(Usually, I think, they are used with bad connotations)

occhiaie are bags under eyes
Incarnata is a hangnail

I'll go learn more.

Thanks, littlek! Did your Italian friend teach you those?

I have another question. This one should be pretty simple...

How do you say "it's one o'clock?" Is it:

Sono le uno.

or

E' uno.

Or is it something else entirely?

Or is it, "E' l'una."?

It's one o'clock = è l'una

littlek, the correct spelling is nottataccia, with double 't' (it comes from the word 'nottata').
Nottataccia and giornataccia have always a negative meaning because of the suffix -ccia/-ccio.

Other examples: tempaccio (bad weather), caratteraccio (bad temper), parolaccia (a swearword, an abusive word or expression).