La prima pagina
Pull the week together, read your first real Italian, and prove you can do it.
Day 5 of 100 · Roma
Close the book in your head. Before you read anything below, pull this whole week back from memory, out loud, no notes. Retrieval is what moves Italian from "I have seen it" to "I know it", so let yourself struggle a little before you check.
- Conjugate essere through all six persons, from io to loro, before you look at the table.
- Name three greetings and say exactly when you use each one.
- The tu / Lei rule: who gets tu, and who gets Lei?
- Two pronunciation rules from Day 4: how do the Italian vowels sound, and what happens on a double consonant?
Said all four from memory? Good. Now use the recap below only to confirm, not to relearn.
The pattern, all in one place
Everything from Week 1, on one page. This is your reference, not new material.
essere · to be
| Pronoun | essere | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| io | sono | I am |
| tu | sei | you are (informal) |
| lui / lei / Lei | è | he / she is · you are (formal) |
| noi | siamo | we are |
| voi | siete | you are (plural) |
| loro | sono | they are |
Greetings · which one, and when
| Greeting | When | Register |
|---|---|---|
| ciao | any time (hello and goodbye) | informal (tu) |
| salve | any time, when you are unsure | neutral |
| buongiorno | morning until late afternoon | formal (Lei) |
| buonasera | evening, from about 5 p.m. | formal (Lei) |
tu or Lei · the choice with every person
| Use tu with | Use Lei with |
|---|---|
| friends and peers | strangers and people you have just met |
| children and family | anyone clearly older than you |
| anyone who says tu to you first | shopkeepers, waiters, professionals |
La prima pagina
Read this once for the gist, not word by word. You have met almost all of it this week. Do not translate: just follow the person and get the idea.
Parole utili, just the few new words, so you can read for gist without a full translation:
- di Roma = from Rome
- con = with
- gli amici = friends
- dico = I say
- uso = I use
- una persona nuova = a new person
- saluto sempre = I always greet
- poi = then
Now answer these three in your head, in Italian:
- Come si chiama la ragazza?
- Di dov'è?
- Con gli amici, usa «tu» o «Lei»?
Risposte: Elena · di Roma · tu.
Week 1 words to keep
Ten words and phrases that carry over into everything ahead. If any feels shaky, that is your first thing to review.
Write five short lines about yourself, then say them aloud, using only Week-1 language. Do it twice, once formal and once informal:
- Formale (a colleague, a shopkeeper): Buongiorno! Mi chiamo [nome]. Sono di [città]. Piacere. E Lei?
- Informale (a new friend): Ciao! Sono [nome]. Sono di [città]. Piacere! E tu?
Write both first, then read each one aloud into your phone. Play it back and check three things: clean vowels, any double consonant held, and the right greeting for the hour.
Tick a box only if you can do it right now, out loud, without notes:
- I can greet someone correctly for the time of day.
- I can introduce myself formally and informally.
- I can choose tu or Lei for the person in front of me.
- I can say who I am with essere (io sono, and the other five forms).
- I can read a short self-introduction and get the gist.
If any box stays empty, go back and redo that day before you start Week 2. One shaky brick and the whole wall leans.
Italian on screen, from neorealism to the new series
Film and television are an open window into real, spoken Italian. Start with a neorealist classic like Ladri di biciclette, then add a current series you actually enjoy, and always switch on the Italian subtitles. Reading and hearing the same words at once trains your ear far faster than any drill.
How Italy learned to speak Italian
At unification in 1861 only a small minority actually spoke standard Italian, most people used regional dialects at home. National radio, and above all RAI television from the 1950s, carried one shared spoken Italian into kitchens across the whole country. The language you are learning was spread, in large part, by TV.
- Week 1 gives you the opener to any conversation: a greeting, sono plus your name, and piacere.
- The register choice never goes away: tu with peers and friends, Lei with strangers and elders.
- Greetings are tied to the clock: buongiorno by day, buonasera by evening, ciao only where you would use tu.
- Next week, Where you're from, you add origin and nationality, so Sono di Roma, sono italiano becomes fully yours.