Prepositions

• In Italian, as in English, prepositions are words that indicate direction, specification, place and time, such as "of," "over," "to," "from," "along" and "among." The most common Italian prepositions include di, a, da, in, con, su, per, tra, fra, sotto, and sopra. There are two kinds of Italian prepositions: simple and articulated. A simple preposition is not followed by or bound to an article. For instance, di ("of") is used to indicate origin, as in the sentence "Io sono di New York" ("I am from New York"). An articulated preposition is followed by a definite article and then a noun. For instance, "Vado al ristorante" (I am going to the restaurant).
  
  

Nouns and Pronouns

• Italian nouns are gendered and either singular or plural. The gender and number are revealed by the noun ending. Generally, masculine nouns end in "o," "ore" or a consonant. Feminine nouns end in "a," or "ione." For instance, "piatto" (plate) is masculine, while "pizza" (pizza) is feminine. Some Italian nouns end in "e," and may be either masculine or feminine. To make nouns plural, change an "o" to an "i," change an "a" to an "e," change a "ca" to "che" and change an "e" to an "i."
  
  

Adjectives

• Adjectives are also gendered and numbered. Importantly, adjectives must correspond with nouns in gender and number (singular or plural). For instance, "vero" (true) describes a masculine noun, while "vere" describes a feminine, plural noun. For collective nouns that include both genders, masculine adjectives are used.
  
  

Adverbs

• Italian adverbs modify verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. In English, adverbs are often formed by adding "ly" to adjectives; in Italian, adverbs are often formed by adding the ending "mente" to the feminine form of the adjective. For instance, "generalmente" (generally) is constructed by the feminine adjective root "general." However, not all adverbs (whether English or Italian) are formed from adjectives, such "ancora" (still), "bene" (well) and "sempre" (always).
  
  

Verbs

• A verb describes action, occurrence or a state of being. Italian verbs vary in tense, but must always agree in gender and number with the subject. Most Italian infinitive verbs end in "are," "ere" or "ire." Verb conjugation endings depend on the tense, the person (first person, second person and third person) and whether the person is singular or plural.
  
  

Interjections

• Italian interjections express emotion in the stream of speech. Often, interjections are inserted in a sentence and separated from the sentence by a comma. Sometimes, interjections stand as a separate sentence followed by an exclamation point. Common Italian interjections include "suvvia" (come on), "auito" (help), "hey"(hey), "oh" (wow), "ahi" (ouch) and "bonta mia" (my goodness).
  
  

Conjunctions

• Italian conjunctions are the words that join sentences or words together. Common conjunctions "e" (and) and "o" (or) require no change to a verb. However, some conjunctions, such "nel caso che" (in case), "benche" (although) and "a condizione che" (on the condition of) require the use of the subjunctive. Other conjunctions only require the subjunctive if the subject or the main verb and the subject of the subjunctive differ. If subjects are the same, the infinitive is used.