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A Reference Grammar of Modern Italian
This Italian reference grammar provides students, teachers and others interested in the Italian language with a comprehensive, accessible and jargon-free guide to the forms and structure of Italian.
Whatever their level of knowledge of the language, learners of Italian will find this book it gives clear and detailed explanations of everything from the most elementary facts such as the relation between spelling and pronunciation, or the forms of the article, to more advanced points such as the various nuances of the subjunctive. Formal or archaic discourse is distinguished from informal, everyday usage, and regionalisms are also indicated where appropriate.
The authors have taken care to make it an easy and illuminating reference extensive cross-referencing enables readers to quickly find the information they require, and also stimulates them to discover new, related facts.
Whatever their level of knowledge of the language, learners of Italian will find this book it gives clear and detailed explanations of everything from the most elementary facts such as the relation between spelling and pronunciation, or the forms of the article, to more advanced points such as the various nuances of the subjunctive. Formal or archaic discourse is distinguished from informal, everyday usage, and regionalisms are also indicated where appropriate.
The authors have taken care to make it an easy and illuminating reference extensive cross-referencing enables readers to quickly find the information they require, and also stimulates them to discover new, related facts.
512 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 14, 2024
Questo librone mi è servito un sacco e ha contenuto delle spiegazioni chiarissime e capibilissime secondo me. Pur essendo stato pubblicato 17 anni fa, mi è stato utilissimo e rilevante e credo che lo rimarrà anche nel futuro.
Gli do quattro stelle e no cinque perché a volte c'erano degli accenti sbagliati (piú, é invece di più, è ecc.) e alcune delle frasi mi sono sembrate un po' strane, forse invecchiate. Ma a parte di questo lo raccomanderei sicuramente!
Gli do quattro stelle e no cinque perché a volte c'erano degli accenti sbagliati (piú, é invece di più, è ecc.) e alcune delle frasi mi sono sembrate un po' strane, forse invecchiate. Ma a parte di questo lo raccomanderei sicuramente!
October 23, 2023
By far one of the greatest grammars I have ever read. Almost every single time I've had a doubt related to the language, this book answered it for me. It dedicates paragraphs or even entire pages to the most minute of topics, pages upon pages explaining the difference between passivizing and impersonal "si" (a difference most learners probably don't even know exist), or when past participles agree with the subject/object and when they don't. It almost makes me feel bad that other languages never get grammars this good and elaborate.
There's only two things about this book that disappoint me, but they're relatively nitpicky and not a huge issue (and the fact that they're so minor is a testament to how great it otherwise is).
1. It doesn't explain, or at least doesn't make it clear, that certain present tense verb forms can be proparoxytone (i.e. stressed on the antepenultimate syllable, as in "signìfica"). As a native Spanish speaker, my default treatment of present tense verbs is to stress them on the penultimate syllable, so I spent a good chunk of my early Italian learning journey pronouncing "signifìca", and this knowledge would have been helpful to have.
2. I wish more space had been dedicated to explaining object clitic cluster orders. The book kinda handwaves it away by saying formulating specific rules would be "too complicated", but I've found some fairly consistent rules that most of the natives I've talked to agree on (for example, I've noticed the combination of "mi" + "ti" is generally "mi ti" and not "ti mi", and I've seen agreement that the impersonal of "andarsene" is "ce ne si va") and it would have been nice if at least some effort went into formulating these rules.
Other than that, this book is a masterpiece. If you really want to go deep into Italian, you absolutely need to get it, and if you're an intermediate learner, you really don't need anything else.
There's only two things about this book that disappoint me, but they're relatively nitpicky and not a huge issue (and the fact that they're so minor is a testament to how great it otherwise is).
1. It doesn't explain, or at least doesn't make it clear, that certain present tense verb forms can be proparoxytone (i.e. stressed on the antepenultimate syllable, as in "signìfica"). As a native Spanish speaker, my default treatment of present tense verbs is to stress them on the penultimate syllable, so I spent a good chunk of my early Italian learning journey pronouncing "signifìca", and this knowledge would have been helpful to have.
2. I wish more space had been dedicated to explaining object clitic cluster orders. The book kinda handwaves it away by saying formulating specific rules would be "too complicated", but I've found some fairly consistent rules that most of the natives I've talked to agree on (for example, I've noticed the combination of "mi" + "ti" is generally "mi ti" and not "ti mi", and I've seen agreement that the impersonal of "andarsene" is "ce ne si va") and it would have been nice if at least some effort went into formulating these rules.
Other than that, this book is a masterpiece. If you really want to go deep into Italian, you absolutely need to get it, and if you're an intermediate learner, you really don't need anything else.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews