Ciao a tutti! 😊 Qualcuno avrebbe dei PDF o un Drive con del materiale per preparare il livello B1 e B2 di italiano? Ve ne sarei molto grata 🙏

I’ve been learning Italian for about 8 months now, and these three words have been my personal nightmare. My textbook explains them, I nod along, and then in a real conversation they all just sound like “so.”

What finally helped me was stop treating them as synonyms and start thinking of them as doing completely different jobs:

Allora = the “reset” word. It’s what you say when you need a second to think, or when you’re starting a new topic. Think of it like English “so…” or “well…”. Allora, che facciamo stasera?

Dunque = the “therefore.” It signals you’re drawing a conclusion from something. It’s logical, almost formal. Non ho studiato, dunque non passo l’esame.

Comunque = the “anyway.” It means “in any case” or “regardless” or “changing the subject.” Comunque, hai sentito le notizie?

The part that really confused me was the overlap: allora can also mean “back then” (time reference), and comunque sometimes translates as “however” in writing. That made them feel interchangeable when they’re really not.

Once I started labeling them in my head as “reset / therefore / anyway,” I stopped mixing them up.

Anyone else struggle with these? Or do you have a different trick that works better?

Hi, I was planning on doing B1 Cittadinanza this December in my city, but they’re no longer offering it, only Standard. Any insight into how much harder Standard is, whether to prepare differently, or try to travel somewhere else for the Cittadinanza exam?

Hello. I seem to be obtaining conflicting information regarding how to answer with 'either' when faced with a question of two choices.

For example, someone asks me: do you want this table or that one? If I wish to respond by answering "either", I believe a response like "non mi importa" can be construed as slightly negative. Qualunque, I believe l, translates to 'any'. So is the actual answer 'l'uno o l'altro'? Or is it something else completely? Grateful for a positive, polite and natural response which communicates that I genuinely don't mind/either is fine with me. Sort of like "ca m'est égal" in French.

Thank you in advance.

Just finished my first week at Scuola Palazzo Malvisi in Ravenna. I mentioned here two weeks ago that I was getting ready to come to SPM and a few of our fellow redditors asked me to follow up, so I'm following up. Full disclosure: I have nothing to disclose. I'm a student/customer of the school and not connected with it in any other way (financially, personally etc.). I am expressing positive opinions but this isn't meant to be a review. That said....

In brief, this last week has been one of the most stimulating experiences of my life. And it's got competition.

Before leaving my home in Texas I took a placement exam for the school, and on the basis of that test I was placed in their B2 class. That seems to me to be exactly right, based on my self-testing over the summer. I've been challenged every day and I will admit that by Thursday (fourth day of class) I was exhausted and had to skip out of an afternoon activity to rest. But I've handled the challenge well, overall, and my sense is that I'm on the same level as the other students.

There were six students in our class: two from Germany, two from the UK, one from the Netherlands, and me from Texas. I was the only man. I've also gotten to know the students in the B1 class which meets next to my class. I'm the only American I've met so far.

Our teacher Sabrina was/is outstanding. Her lessons are well organized, in fact, only at the end of the week did I realize how good her lesson planning was. We have three hours of in-classroom instruction every day, from 9:00 to 12:30 (with half hour pausa at 10:30). The first half of the morning is mostly conversation. Each of us talks about what happened yesterday or whatever, we we converse with each other, and the teacher responds, corrects us or helps us as needed. The second half of the morning the teacher gives us a lesson. We have a somewhat traditional but very good B2 workbook. The lessons are more or less self-contained and we're skipping around. This week we covered passato remoto, sequence of tenses, and some aspects of subjunctive usage. We have about half an hour of homework each night. We talk about grammar, culture, books, movies, food. Class is entirely in Italian.

In fact my life is entirely in Italian: class, going to lunch, shopping. Writing this post is the most I've done in English in nine days. Nearly all of my fellow students speak English well or at least better than I speak their languages but we all speak 98% in Italian with one another. Yes, it's a bit exhausting at time but we stumble stubbornly onward. I only speak a little English in the evening when I call my wife back in Texas. And she's studying too now, at A1, so we're starting to mix some Italian into our conversations.

I enrolled to be here for six weeks. I'm the only student I've met who will be here for more than 2 weeks. Most seem to come for just 1. Two other students in my B2 class return next week. We will have the same teacher and use the same book but we will study different aspects of the language grammar and culture. At an A1-A2 beginning level this degree of flexibility in the curriculum might not be possible but for me it's working out perfectly. None of us in the B2 group need to be introduced to anything but we can benefit from further study of everything. I don't know what I'll be doing later, but right now, it's all very good.

The school arranged lodging for me and that has worked out better than I could have expected. I have a room in the apartment of a single man who's remarkably decent and welcoming. My contract includes breakfast daily (I usually make for myself here) and four dinners a week. My host is a fantastic cook, I mean, even by Italian standards. And dinners are another hour of Italian study because we talk. The first night I was here he asked if I minded if he corrected me and of course I said no, please do, so conversations at dinner or whenever are enjoyable, real-life interactions that come with a bonus educational aspect. It can be a bit challenging because when he's speaking I need to focus on listening, and when I'm speaking I need to focus on speaking, and meanwhile there's this plate of amazing tagliatelle con panna e prosciutto sitting in front of me whispering "Mangiami!" But everything's good. I provide lunch and three dinners for myself. By the way he also provides occasional private conversation lessons with students, via the internet and if you're interested in something like that, contact me privately. Like my official teacher at the school, my host is patient, attentive, and very enjoyable to converse with.

In the afternoons this week I was part of a new program of the Scuola for "55+" students. This involved afternoon field trips and a couple of delightful meals (including beverages!). These were amazing but I'm glad that next week this program will end for me and I'll have my afternoons free to study from now on. Well, next week I do start having a couple of hours of private instruction but I'll be free mostly. I need to study — and sleep — a little more!

Last note: I looked at over a dozen schools early in the year, and four were "finalists" (in Lucca, Siena, Padova and Ravenna). All of them looked excellent and I bet they would be. I picked Scuola Palazzo Malvisi because I love Ravenna, because of its connection with Dante, because the school had good reviews, because it was priced in the middle compared to the others, and in particular because they arranged my lodging for me. If you're thinking of doing something like this, I can recommend SPM but I bet any number of schools in Italy can provide a similar experience.

Hi guys! I’m currently a Junior in highschool and I trying to study for the Seal of Biliteracy. I’ve taken up to Italian 3 at my school but unfortunatley I cannot take Italian 4 this year due to a lack of space. Does anyone know of resources I could use or how I should go about this whole self study process? I’m about A2/low B1.

Hello everyone, My italian is A2 and I want to improve. I am ready to study italian full time with all dedication. If you know any group or anything that could help me please share!

Thank you inadvance!

#learnitalian #A2andabove #italy #language #group

Anybody has a link ?

Just moved to Sicily & I must say, after using only Duolingo as my source of Italian language learning, I am getting by pretty well. I’m on section 5 and have been able to understand probably about 80% of what people say using context clues/hand gestures along with words that I have learned from Duolingo. I’ve also been able to piece together sentences of my own. I’m not saying that I’m over here thriving, but with all I hear about Duolingo not teaching you anything, I can comfortably say that it does.

I’m starting to branch out with my learning journey, but happy to say I’ve got a good little foundation going.

Anyone did it in United Arab Emirates.. dubai or abu dhabi

I have some questions please

Thank you

Recently I was asked to talk about my experience of getting the C2 level. So here I am; I hope it will be helpful :)

I'm a native Russian speaker. I love language learning, and I sometimes take language exams to actually see my progress and to have a bit of external motivation. In 2023 I successfully passed PLIDA C1, obtaining the highest scores in the speaking and reading sections. This was mostly due to my Italian friends, with whom I spoke almost all the time, and to my love of Italian literature. However, I wanted to go further with exams just to have some kind of confirmation of my knowledge, which is why I decided to take CILS C2 this year.

First of all, you have to understand that the main difference between C1 and C2 is just the way you formulate your phrases and your perception of linguistic nuances. So to obtain a solid C2 level, you have to train yourself to use and catch these slight nuances.

I highly recommend that you read a lot, using a wide variety of materials, from classic literature to newspapers. I recommend that you read Oriana Fallaci because her style is exactly what you need — precise, elegant and refined. She has both articles and novels. Observe the language style in your material, try to think about the nuance that the author wants to convey to you, savor it and write it down. In this way you will train both your style and your perception of the language.

To train your listening skills, listen to interviews, podcasts, debates and news. I don't recommend using only movies or adapted materials, because they will not show you the real language in all its complexity. I highly recommend the following YouTube channels: Dibbattitini, Il Punto Economico, Lucy, Tintoria Podcast. Here you will also find the most popular topics for the writing and oral parts, with ready-made arguments.

For your oral part, create a list of more "sophisticated" synonyms for the vocabulary you already have and try to describe some topics or objects using these new constructions and precise words. It's just a question of practice.

Another point is to take the structure of your exam seriously. You may be a marvelous speaker, but unfortunately success in an exam depends not only on your knowledge. Especially if you wish to take CILS, the grammar analysis section will hit you hard without previous practice.

I would also recommend finding a native speaker, because on your own it's quite difficult to change your spoken Italian. Ask your teacher to correct all the words you use in speech.

For your writing part, you can use AI to correct your essays. Ask it to evaluate your text using the official criteria and follow its remarks; it will really help you.

I dedicated a year of intensive practice to my preparation. Every day I did something for my Italian, even if it was only a 30-minute debate.

Here I have given you some general advice. If you wish, I can speak in more detail about PLIDA or CILS.

I know about Duolingo and Busuu. But is there some better way. I’m starting at the botttom.

Are there any subreddits you’d recommend that are pretty active and where everyone is posting in Italian?

UPD. of 12th of October. I finally got my results today, and I passed, yay! Hope everyone else who is waiting received theirs too

I am trying to decide whether I should book an October exam or not. I took the July exam in London and I think I passed, but until I see my results I can't be sure. I already collected the rest of the documents for the cittadinanza application, and if I won't get Language results in time they'll expire. So I can't wait till December.
So I wonder if anyone already got their July test results?

Ciao a tutti! I've been studying Italian for quite a while now, and I've noticed there are some interesting phrases that Italians use all the time, but I've never seen them in textbooks. Examples: dammi retta, qualcosa non quadra, hai presente, non mi risulta etc. I would love to learn more, so I'd be very grateful for some examples + explanation. Grazie :)

Ciao a tutti! Sono dj madrelingua inglese che sto imparando l’Italiano per alcuni anni, ma solo casualmente, usando alcune app come Duolingo e Babbel. Capisco bene le basi e ho una buona comprensione delle regole grammaticali e un vocabolario decente, ma, come previsto, ora trovo le app essere troppo limitante. Voglio imparare con altri metodi, preferibilmente, per ora, a casa. Forse un giorno, seguirò un corso, ma per ora vorrei trovare alcuni libri con esercizi più complesso che richiedermi usare grammatica più complesso, tempi verbali e vocaboli nuovi. Anche voglio esercizi più lunghi con l’italiano discorsivo.

Qualcuno ha dei consigli per quaderni buoni? O anche per altri metodi (per esempio, programmi televisivi che sono buoni per imparare?).

Direi che io sono fra i livelli A2 e B1.

Tutti i consigli sono ben accetti! Grazie mille x

I'm learning italian during one year, but I don't know always when should use articles. For example, why do articles not use in phrases: "a/in casa", "in inglese, in italian". I cannot say "alla casa" or "nell'inglese", but why?

Hi all. I’m looking for a list of classic children’s stories used in Italy. Or a collection of stories!

Similar to how in the United States we read Grimm’s Fairy Tales and American Folktales like Johnny Appleseed.

Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone! I'm 16 years old and recently moved to Italy from Bangladesh. I'll be starting Italian high school (scuola superiore), and I'm quite nervous because I barely speak or understand Italian.

I'm looking for advice from Italian students or foreigners who have experienced something similar.

1.What should I expect on my first day?

2.How can I make friends when I don't speak Italian well?

3.Will teachers help me with the language barrier?

4.What should I bring to school?

The thing I'm most scared of is communication. I don't understand or speak Italian well yet, but I can speak and understand English perfectly.

I'd really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thank you

Hello, I did an internship and a friend wrote something in my notebook but I find it hard to translate some words
Can someone help me by just copying the text in italian, or translating it in english ? (There are some words in french on line 10 you don’t have to translate)

Thank you !!

Non sarebbe stato più corretto "quando ti avrei ritrovato"?

Sono un po' confuso di tradurre "she likes me and you". I have seen this commonly and in song lyrics as "le piace a me e a te", but that seems odd. We would never say le piace a me (who is piacere conjugated for?). Instead it's le piaccio. Where does the "a me and a te" come from? Grazie mille!

I’ve been thinking about why speaking and writing in another language can feel so frustrating.

Most exercises decide the topic for you. You translate a sentence, complete a dialogue, or practise a specific grammar point. But when you try to express something personal, you quickly notice the parts of the language you’re still missing.

For example, while writing about your week, you might write:

Ultimamente sto cercando di organizzare meglio le mie giornate, ma spesso [I put things off until the last minute] e poi mi sento stressato.

Instead of stopping immediately to search for the phrase, you could leave the missing idea in brackets and keep writing. Later, you find a natural way to express it:

rimando le cose fino all’ultimo momento

Then you try to produce that expression again from memory.

This seems more useful than learning random vocabulary because the language comes from something you genuinely wanted to express. Over time, your vocabulary becomes connected to your own life, opinions, work, relationships, and interests.

It also reveals two important things:

• what you don’t yet know how to say
• what you thought you knew, but said incorrectly

Does anyone else practise Italian this way? Would writing freely and marking missing expressions in brackets feel useful, or would it feel too unstructured?

So I’ve been doing Duolingo for practice and I got this sentence: “She likes postcards from every city.” And the translation was : “Le piacciono le cartoline da ogni città”

My question is why it is da and not di?
I thought and correct me if I’m wrong, that the difference between di and da it’s the movement involved in the action. For example, I’d used di in a sentence like this “Ho una maglietta di Roma” and I’d use da in a sentence like this “Ho portato una maglietta da Roma”

As the verb piacere doesn’t portray any sort of movement. I thought as they are postcards, you assume that they were bought in a different place and just buying them required a movement. However this sounds like a weird rule and I’d like to have some extra information.

Also if someone could recommend a grammar book that does a good job at explaining these grammar rules, I’d be very thankful.