Italian for English speakers: the cheat sheet

The huge overlap

English has borrowed enormously from Latin (mostly via French), and Italian IS Latin's direct descendant. Cognates:

• English -tion →︎ Italian -zione: nation →︎ nazione, station →︎ stazione, education →︎ educazione.
• English -ty →︎ Italian -tà: liberty →︎ libertà, university →︎ università, city →︎ città.
• English -ous →︎ Italian -oso: famous →︎ famoso, delicious →︎ delizioso, curious →︎ curioso.
• English -ic →︎ Italian -ico: musical →︎ musicale, historic →︎ storico, tragic →︎ tragico.

Whole categories of English vocabulary become "free" in Italian.

False friends (traps)

• Simpatico ≠ sympathetic. Means friendly / nice.
• Attualmente ≠ actually. Means currently.
• Educato ≠ educated. Means polite / well-mannered.
• Sensibile ≠ sensible. Means sensitive.
• Libreria ≠ library. Means bookshop. (Library = biblioteca.)
• Fabbrica ≠ fabric. Means factory.
• Preservativo ≠ preservative. Means condom. (Preservative = conservante.)
• Ospite = both host AND guest. Context tells you.

What actually makes Italian easier

• Consistent pronunciation: read a word, you can say it.
• Verb endings do a lot of work: you can drop subject pronouns.
• Only 2 genders (m/f), no case system.
• Word order flexible: emphasis via position, not new grammar.

The hardest bits: gender agreement, subjunctive, prepositions.