Even after years of study, some people keep making mistakes with certain things. Some grammatical pitfalls and barriers in the Italian language sometimes annoy native speakers too. 7 out of 10 Italians don’t remember grammar and spelling rules. Accents and apostrophes are skipped or placed incorrectly, difficulty with subjunctives, and the unclear use of doubles put many to the test. Let’s find out the most common mistakes Italians make when speaking and, especially, when writing. Nobody is perfect, even the Italians! But with a little attention and effort, mistakes can be avoided.
⛔️ QUAL’ È ➛ WRONG
You don’t need the apostrophe with qual. It is written without the apostrophe.
✅ QUAL È (qual era) ➛ RIGHT
Qual is an adjective formed by removing the vowel from the adjective quale. (called troncamento) This usually happened before a vowel but sometimes even before a consonant.
Examples:
Qual è la tua macchina?
Qual buon vento.
⛔️ UN PÒ ➛ WRONG
The apostrophe, not the accent, indicates the shortening of poco. (troncamento)
✅ UN PO’ ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Vorrei un po’ d’acqua, per favore.
The shortened variant (po’) is used in conjunction with un (the indeterminate article) — un po’, un bel po’.
Otherwise, it is used poco.
Examples:
Ho mangiato poco stasera
Hai poco appetito stasera
⛔️ UN’AMICO ➛ WRONG
The indefinite article is written without the apostrophe in front of any masculine words that begin with a vowel.
✅ UN AMICO ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Francesco ha un amico inglese
⛔️ SE AVREI PIÙ TEMPO ANDREI IN PALESTRA ➛ WRONG
The hypothesis started by “se” is always followed by the imperfect subjunctive rather than the conditional in the hypothetical period of possibility.
✅ SE AVESSI PIÙ TEMPO ANDREI IN PALESTRA ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Se avessi più soldi andrei in vacanza più spesso.
⛔️ DACCORDO ➛ WRONG
It is written with an apostrophe because there is an elision of “di accordo”
✅ D’ACCORDO ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Sono d’accordo con te.
⛔️ PIÙ MEGLIO ➛ WRONG
Meglio is the comparative of bene, so it is wrong to repeat più.
✅ MEGLIO ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Oggi mi sento meglio
⛔️ PENSAVO CHE ANNA DASSE/STASSE… ➛ WRONG
The third-person singular present subjunctive of the verbs dare and stare is desse, stesse.
✅ PENSAVO CHE ANNA DESSE/STESSE… ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Pensavo che Anna stesse in Francia.
⛔️ CARLO CI DA … ➛ WRONG
The third person singular of the present indicative of the verb dare is written with the accent.
✅ CARLO CI DÀ … ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Carlo ci dà i biglietti per lo stadio
⛔️ NE QUESTO NE QUELLO ➛ WRONG
The negative conjunction is always written with an acute accent – né.
✅ NÉ QUESTO NÉ QUELLO ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Non voglio mangiare né la pasta né la carne.
⛔️ OGGI INCONTRO MONICA E GLI PARLO ➛ WRONG
The pronoun GLI refers to a male subject (= to him, to Marco). The indirect feminine singular pronoun, on the other hand, is LE.
✅ OGGI INCONTRO MONICA E LE PARLO ➛ RIGHT
⛔️ SI, VA BENE ➛ WRONG
The adverb of affirmation is written with a grave accent
✅ SÌ, VA BENE ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Vieni al mare con me oggi? Sì, certo!
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