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.
Learners often struggle with skipping or placing accents and apostrophes incorrectly, using the subjunctive mood, and unclearly using double consonants.
Let’s find out the most common mistakes Italians make when speaking and, especially, when writing. Nobody is perfect, even the Italians!
You can avoid mistakes with a little attention and effort.
⛔️ QUAL’ È ➛ WRONG
You don’t need the apostrophe with qual. Write without the apostrophe.
✅ QUAL È (qual era) ➛ RIGHT
In Italian, form the adjective ‘qual’ 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
In the hypothetical period of possibility, you should always use the imperfect subjunctive instead of the conditional after the hypothesis started by ‘se’.
✅ UN AMICO ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Francesco ha un amico inglese
⛔️ SE AVREI PIÙ TEMPO ANDREI IN PALESTRA ➛ WRONG
✅ SE AVESSI PIÙ TEMPO ANDREI IN PALESTRA ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Se avessi più soldi andrei in vacanza più spesso.
⛔️ DACCORDO ➛ WRONG
Write it 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
Write the third person singular of the present indicative of the verb dare with the accent.
✅ CARLO CI DÀ … ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Carlo ci dà i biglietti per lo stadio
⛔️ NE QUESTO NE QUELLO ➛ WRONG
In Italian, always write the negative conjunction 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
Write the adverb of affirmation with a grave accent.
✅ SÌ, VA BENE ➛ RIGHT
Example:
Vieni al mare con me oggi? Sì, certo!
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