Italian is often described as one of the most beautiful and poetic languages in the world. With its soft, melodious voice and rich vocabulary, it’s no wonder so many people are drawn to it. But make no mistake – while Italian may be beautiful, it can also be very challenging to learn, with complex grammar and many exceptions. Yes, even native Italian speakers sometimes get tripped up by its rules.
Don’t believe me? Check out these common grammatical mistakes Italians often make when using their own language.
Common Grammatical Mistakes Made by Italians in Spoken Italian
These mistakes will make your audience shudder!
Misuse of the subjunctive mood
One of the most common grammatical errors is the use of the subjunctive, which is a nightmare not only for learners of Italian, but also for native speakers. Some see no real reason for the verb tens and replace it with a simpler demonstrative form. The result is a real conversation killer!
Here is an example:
Hope the interview goes well. ❌
hope the interview goes well. ✅
(hope the interview goes well)
The same goes for the assumption: we use conditionals creatively instead of the subjunctive:
If I had more time, I would. ❌
If I had more time, I would. ✅
(If I had more time I would do it myself)
instead of
improper use instead of has become so ingrained in colloquial Italian that we don’t even notice it. Often, people use it as a synonym for “or” to indicate a choice between two things, but this is wrong.
instead of is an adverb meaning “rather than” and expresses a preference for one thing over another.
Here’s an example of how misuse can lead to hilarious confusion. Let’s say you want to say that tonight you and your significant other can go to the cinema or the theater.
Tonight we can go to the cinema instead of the theater. ❌
You don’t want to say the above sentence because it means you prefer movie theaters to theaters. The correct statement is:
We can go to the movies or the theater tonight. ✅
(We can go to the cinema or the theater tonight.)
his/her pronoun
Those two little words can make your ears hurt if used incorrectly. You’d be surprised how often it happens.indirect object pronoun this is masculine (meaning “to him”), while this is feminine (meaning “to her”). Super easy, right? Not really, as many Italians use masculine pronouns when referring to feminine subjects.
example:
I told him to call me. ❌
I told her to call me. ✅
(I told her to call me.)
mine
One of the first things we learn as kids is “Never say mine! “. This expression emphasizes the reflexive pronoun Meter by combining it with one me, both mean “to me”. You know, we Italians like to emphasize things, we just go a little too far sometimes. To give you an idea, the equivalent in English is “to myself”.
example:
I love pizza. ❌
I love pizza. ✅
(I like pizza.)
but
use conjunctions Well with but Together is another grammatical mistake Italians often make. They’re both antonyms and mean the same thing — “but” — so they’re interchangeable. How do we use them together? As before, we like emphasis.
example:
I wasn’t hungry, but I ate anyway. ❌
I’m not hungry but I still eat. ✅
(I’m just hungry, but I’m still eating.)
better one
more means “more”, while better one is comparative benefit (= OK) – Obviously, the two cannot coexist. The literal translation should be “better” – brrrr, tremble!
example:
I feel better today. ❌
i feel better today. ✅
(I feel better today.)
Common Grammatical Mistakes Italians Make in Written Italian
These mistakes would go unnoticed verbally, but in writing, the situation is quite different.
what is vs what is
Here’s the dilemma plaguing millions of Italians: Yes which With or without apostrophes?
phrase which Means “Which is” and is often used to ask for clarification or to choose between two options.Now, though adding an apostrophe after which As logical as it may seem, this is wrong. which is formed by dropping the vowel at the end which, which is independent of the word that follows (technically, it’s a vowel apocope). Therefore, it should not be omitted.
example:
what is your favorite dessert ❌
what is your favorite dessert ✅
(what’s your favorite dessert?)
Ah, those apostrophes…
We often trip up on apostrophes. Let’s start by saying that the apostrophe signifies ellipsis, and it occurs in a word that ends in a vowel, followed by a word that begins with another vowel. E.g: friend = Lift‘friend (female friend)
The most common questions involve indefinite articles, but the rule to follow is actually quite simple: Feminine indefinite articles A sort of Requires an apostrophe before nouns beginning with a vowel; masculine indefinite article one certainly not.
example:
with‘friend (= a female friend)
a friend (= a male friend)
Speaking of apostrophes… Pò vs. Po’
Rear’ is an abbreviated form of the adverb a little (meaning “a little”) and must be written with an apostrophe, denoting no syllable -co. But Italians are very creative, and sometimes we like to (wrongly) add an accent to the end of it.
can i have some milk ❌
can i have some milk ✅
(Can I have some milk?)
There’s also a lot to be said about accent marks
Accents are another common grammatical mistake Italians often make in Italian. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you should use stress, especially with monosyllabic words that can completely change their meaning. Here are some examples:
- Give is the third singular of the present tense dare (= give) but with is a preposition (= from)
- yes is an adverb of acceptance (= yes) but with is a pronoun (and a note)
- neither is a negative conjunction (= Neither nor) but this is is an adverb (= leave) and a pronoun
have / have
This common grammatical mistake that Italians keep making in Italian has to do with pronunciation, which makes it hard to see the second “r”.Therefore, some people misspell it my own (This means “completely” as an adverb and “possesses” as an adjective) as my own. and Unfortunately (= Unfortunately), usually spelled as Unfortunately.
example:
Are you really sure? ❌
Are you really sure? ✅
(Are you sure?)
CU/QU
Because CU and QU read alike, it is easy to make mistakes when writing them.As a general rule, QU is followed by a vowel (as in Team – team), while CU is usually followed by a consonant (eg cousin – cousin).
Obviously, there are always exceptions that complicate things. Some Italian words are written with CU even if they are followed by a vowel, for example:
School ✅ / School ❌(= School)
Heart ✅ / with which ❌(= Heart)
Cuoco ✅ / Where ❌(= chef)
harmless ✅ / harmless ❌(= harmless)
Don’t forget that we also have conversations with QQ (actually one, ransack – confusion) and CQU (mainly related to the water world such as water – water with downpour – downpour). Tracking down all exceptions is not easy and takes practice.
melodious D
In Italian, the letter D comes in handy when a vowel preposition/conjunction is followed by a word that begins with a vowel, preventing the two vowels from colliding. E.g, and is (= he/she/it is) should become it is, are easier to read and pronounce. The problem is that some people use this magic D too much, and some people don’t use it at all.
example:
i work in ancona. (= I work in Ancona.)
This is my parents! (= This is my parents!)
you and me. (= you and me)
With or without “I”?
We often find ourselves struggling trying to figure out whether a word needs the vowel “i”. The worst part is that we use these words all the time, but somehow they don’t stick in our minds. Here are some examples:
Adequate ✅ / Adequate ❌(= Adequate)
surface ✅ / surface ❌(= surface)
science ✅ / science ❌(= science)
engineer ✅ / engineer ❌(= engineer)
Words that sound “connected” in spoken language but must be written separately
Let’s wrap up this list of common grammatical mistakes Italians make all the time in Italian with some tricky expressions. When spoken, certain expressions in Italian sound like they should be written as one word, but are actually written separately. We tend to get very confused!
example:
agree ✅ / agree ❌(= agree)
Apart from ✅ / separate ❌(= except except)
beside ✅ / beside ❌(= beside)
Valentina is a travel writer who loves her country. After traveling the world, she realized there was so much more to explore closer to home and decided to put her passport aside for now.You can follow her adventures in Italy on her blog www.myitaliandiaries.com.
