Today I want to talk about what are usually the most common mistakes that not only students but also native speakers commit when writing in Italian.
Let’s see them together:
Un po, un po’ or un pò?
The correct form is with the apostrophe: un po’
It is, in fact, the truncation of the word “poco” – “little.”
Un’amica o un amica? Un’amico o un amico?
The apostrophe is used only when the word is feminine, so the correct form is un’amica, un amico.
Qual’è o qual è?
Perhaps the most common mistake. The correct form is qual è, without an apostrophe, given that (to simplify the rule), we can say that the word “qual” exists as such. It is the same rule that applies to the adjective “buon” (un buon uomo, un buon libro, etc.)
È piovuto o ha piovuto?
The verbs concerning atmospheric phenomena accept both the verb to be and the verb to have in passato prossimo. So both expressions are correct.
D’accordo o daccordo?
The correct form is d’accordo. It is an elision from the expression “d’accordo” and therefore must be addressed.
A volte o avvolte?
The adverb of time correctly writes separately: “a volta” The word “avvolte” exists, but it is the participle of the verb “avvolgere”, so it has an entirely different meaning!
Sopratutto o soprattutto?
The correct form is written with two “T”: “soprattutto”.
Ciliegie o ciliege? Faccie o facce? The formation of the plural of words ending in –CIA or –GIA follows a precise rule:
If a vowel precedes them, their plural will be in -CIE E -GIE.
The correct form is, therefore “ciliegie” and not “ciliege”;
If there is a consonant before -CIA and -GIA, the plural will be -CE and -GE
So “Facce” and not “faccie”.
Ne o né ?
Ne without accent is used as a pronominal particle (e.g., Hai comprato le mele? Ne ho comprato mezzo chilo).
Ne with an accent is used as negation (e.g., Non è né buono né cattivo).
Perché o perché?
The correct form is “perché” with an acute accent. In Italian, the words that carry the acute accent on the last vowel are a limited number: affinché, cosicché, finché, giacché, poiché, purché, perché, benché…
In compounds of three: ventitré, trentatré, quarantatré…
In the third person of the remote past of some verbs in -ere: poté, ripeté
and in some other cases, a little rarer.
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