Top common grammar mistakes even Italians sometimes make

posted in: Italian grammar | 0

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’ ÈWRONG

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 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 – .

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

, VA BENE RIGHT

Example:

Vieni al mare con me oggi? , certo!


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