Italian grammar: free online explanations and exercises

A1 · The foundations

The basic sentence: who does what, with which article, in which gender.

The alphabet and pronunciationsoft c, hard c, double letters and stress The articles: il, lo, la, i, gli, leil, lo, la, i, gli, le · un, uno, una Gender and number of nouns-o, -a, -e: the rules and the exceptions Adjectives and agreementagreement in gender and number Subject pronounsio, tu, lui: when you really need them The present tense-are, -ere, -ire and the six key irregulars Essere and averethe two verbs that hold everything up C’è and ci sonosaying that something exists Simple prepositionsdi, a, da, in, con, su, per Numbers, dates and timecounting, saying when, giving the price Negation and questionsnon, intonation, question words

To practise: in the amo Italian app, the Il bar pathway trains the present tense with real counter vocabulary. Open in the app →

A2 · The past and pronouns

Telling what happened, and saying things without repeating them.

The passato prossimoho mangiato, sono andato: telling what happened The imperfettohabits, descriptions, backgrounds Essere or avere? Choosing the auxiliarychoosing the auxiliary and agreement Direct object pronounslo vedo, la chiamo, li compro Indirect object pronounsmi piace, gli scrivo, le telefono Possessivesil mio, la tua: with and without the article Reflexive verbsmi alzo, ti svegli, si veste The simple futurepartirò, sarà: plans and predictions Stare + gerundsto mangiando: the action in progress Articulated prepositionsnel, sulla, dal: when they merge Ne and cithe two little words that confuse everyone The imperativeprendi, senta: instructions and advice

To practise: the I trasporti pathway puts the passato prossimo and its auxiliaries to work among trains, tickets and connections. Open in the app →

B1 · The nuances

Opinions, wishes, politeness: the Italian of ideas. It is also the citizenship level.

Passato prossimo or imperfetto?event or background: the criterion that works The present conditionalvorrei, potrei: asking politely The present subjunctivepenso che sia: entering the mood Combined pronounsglielo, me lo, te la: the mergers Comparatives and superlativespiù di, il più, buonissimo, migliore Impersonal sisi mangia bene: subjectless sentences The past perfectavevo già mangiato: the past of the past Modals in the pastho dovuto, sono voluto: which auxiliary Connectivesquindi, però, mentre: linking sentences The imperative with pronounsdimmelo, si accomodi, non farlo

To practise: the Dal dottore pathway trains the conditional with symptoms, prescriptions and the pharmacy. Open in the app →

B2 · The subjunctive and beyond

The subjunctive becomes a system, hypothesis takes shape, sentences grow longer without getting lost.

Imperfect and past subjunctivepensavo che fosse: the mood across time Conditionals: types 1 and 2se piove resto, se piovesse resterei The passiveessere, venire, andare: three shades Reported speechha detto che sarebbe venuto Relative pronounsche, cui, il quale: without stumbling Gerund and participlecorrendo, arrivato: the compact forms Pronominal verbsfarcela, andarsene, volerci Subjunctive agreementche sia, che fosse, che sia stato Adjective positionun vecchio amico or un amico vecchio?

To practise: the Vino e cibo pathway puts the subjunctive to work between the cellar and the kitchen. Open in the app →

C1 · Precision

No new structures: you learn to make them coexist, and every register choice says something about you.

The sequence of tensesthe full system, indicative and subjunctive Conditionals: type 3 and mixedse l’avessi saputo, sarei venuto Implicit formspur essendo, dopo aver letto Formal registerfrom speech to writing: nominalisation Complex connectivesaffinché, purché, nonostante Altered nouns-ino, -one, -accio: nuance inside the noun The passato remotofu, disse, andò: a first encounter

To practise: the Letteratura italiana pathway shows the sequence of tenses where it was born: in the prose of the classics. Open in the app →

C2 · Style

No longer what is correct, but what is effective: grammar as a palette.

Marked constructionsla pizza, l’ho ordinata io: focus at work Literary tensesthe passato remoto of written narrative Specialised registersbureaucratic, medical and academic Italian Regional variationthere is more than one Italian Punctuationcommas, colons and the rhythm of the sentence Sentence syntaxmain clauses, subordinates, asides

To practise: the Frasi idiomatiche and Slang giovanile pathways bring spoken constructions into real contexts. Open in the app →

To practise everything for free on the site: 700+ interactive Italian exercises with answers, on the same topics as these chapters.

Printable sheets

For those who review best on paper: every chapter has its own one-page PDF sheet on its page, free to download (tables in Italian). Here you also find the level summary.

The A1 essentialsarticles, present tense, essere and avere, prepositions on one page The articles · A1full tables, typical mistakes, quiz with answers

Every chapter has its sheet, and they are all collected in one place: browse all 61 sheets, level by level →

Teachers and librarians: the sheets are free to print and use in class (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, with attribution). There is also amo Italian for teachers: free for you, with class codes for your students.

Read at your level

Grammar sticks when you meet it again in real pages. These are Italian classics retold level by level, with footnotes, a glossary and comprehension questions: pick the one that matches your chapter here.