Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used in This Book 2 Beyond the Book 3 Where to Go from Here 4 Book I: Speaking Italian in Everyday Settings 5 Chapter 1: Exploring Pronunciations and Italian You May Already Know 7 You Already Know Some Italian! 8 Getting to the root of cognates 9 Picking up popular expressions 9 Mouthing Off: Basic Pronunciation 11 Starting with the alphabet 11 Vowels 12 Consonants 14 Stressing Syllables Properly 18 Chapter 2: Dealing with Numbers, Dates, and Time 21 Counting from Zero to a Billion: Cardinal Numbers 21 Building numbers in Italian 23 Speaking numbers like a native 25 Making sense of addresses 26 Putting Things in Order: Ordinal Numbers 27 Looking at the Calendar: Days, Months, and Seasons 29 Days of the week 29 Months and seasons of the year 30 Specific dates 31 Telling Time 34 Familiarizing Yourself with the Metric System 38 Converting the temperature to/from Celsius 39 Measuring in metric units 40 Chapter 3: Buongiorno! Salutations! 41 Looking at Common Greetings and Goodbyes 41 Issuing a greeting 41 Deciding between formal and friendly 43 Replying to a greeting 43 Specifying your reunion 44 Making Introductions 44 Introducing yourself 45 Introducing other people 47 Talking about Language, Countries, and Nationalities 49 Finding out whether someone speaks Italian 49 Talking about where you come from 50 Extending and Responding to Invitations 54 Chapter 4: Making Small Talk 55 Discovering Interrogative Pronouns 55 Asking simple questions 56 Taking care of basic needs 58 Talking About Your Family 60 Discussing What You Do 61 Talking shop 62 Discussing your job 62 Chatting about the Weather 64 Chapter 5: Casa Dolce Casa: Home Sweet Home 67 Describing Where You Live 67 Stating your country and hometown 67 Noting the type of home you have 68 Taking a Tour of Your Home 69 Il soggiorno: The living room 69 La cucina: The kitchen 71 La sala da pranzo: The dining room 72 La camera da letto: The bedroom 75 Il bagno: The bathroom 76 Other areas around the house 77 Chapter 6: Using the Phone and Talking Business 81 Phoning Made Simple 81 Connecting via cellphones, texts, and video 82 Calling for business or pleasure 84 Making Arrangements over the Phone 86 Asking for People and Getting the Message 88 Discussing Your Job 91 Referring to coworkers 92 Interviewing 92 Covering compensation and breaks 93 Describing things around the office 93 Chapter 7: Food, Glorious Food, and Drink 97 Eating, Italian-Style 97 Having breakfast 97 Eating lunch 98 Enjoying dinner 100 Drinking, Italian-Style 103 Expressing your love for espresso 103 Beverages with even more of a kick 105 Dining Out, from Start to Finish 106 Making reservations 106 Paying for your meal 108 Shopping for Food 109 Dal macellaio (butcher shop) 109 Pesce (fish) 109 At the panetteria (bread shop) 110 Chapter 8: Shopping, Italian-Style 115 Checking Out Stores 115 Deciding between department stores and boutiques 116 Navigating the store 116 Admiring shop displays 118 Clothing Yourself 119 Checking out various items 119 Sizing up Italian sizes 119 Talking definitely and indefinitely 123 Coloring your words 124 Choosing the right fabric 125 Accessorizing 126 Narrowing Your Options 127 Comparing items, more or less 128 Considering price 129 Book II: Exploring and Wandering About 133 Chapter 1: Where Is the Colosseum? Asking Directions 135 Finding Your Way: Asking for Specific Places 135 Mapping the quarters and following directions 137 Expressing verbs on the move 140 Exploring Italian Cities and Towns 143 La piazza: The heart of the Italian city 143 Viewing famous sites and architectural styles 143 Finding the places you''re looking for 144 Chapter 2: Having Fun Out on the Town 147 Experiencing Italian Culture 147 Taking in a movie 149 Going to the theater 150 Exploring a museum 152 Experiencing a local festival 153 Taking in the Italian Music Scene 154 Catching a concert 154 Exploring the world of Italian opera 156 Popular Italian music 158 Inviting Fun 159 Chapter 3: Exploring the Outdoors, Sports, and Hobbies 163 Getting Close to Nature 164 Playing and Watching Sports 166 Using the right names and verbs for sports talk 167 Watching sports 171 Talking about Hobbies and Interests 173 Speaking Reflexively 176 Chapter 4: Planning a Trip 179 Deciding When and Where to Go 179 Going to agriturismo 181 Going to the beach and spa 182 Visiting castles, palaces, and estates 182 Taking a Tour 183 Booking a Trip outside of Italy 185 Arriving and Leaving with Arrivare and Partire 187 Using the Simple Future Tense 188 Chapter 5: Money, Money, Money 189 Going to the Bank 189 Changing Money 190 Using Credit Cards 193 Looking at Various Currencies 195 Chapter 6: Getting Around: Planes, Trains, Taxis, and Buses 199 Getting through the Airport 199 Checking in 200 Dealing with excess baggage 202 Waiting to board the plane 203 Coping after landing 204 Dealing with lost luggage 204 Going through Customs 204 Renting a Car 206 Navigating Public Transportation 208 Calling a taxi 208 Moving by train 209 Going by bus or tram 210 Reading maps and schedules 212 Being Early or Late 213 Chapter 7: Finding a Place to Stay 215 Choosing a Place to Stay 215 Reserving a Room 216 Checking In 219 Chapter 8: Handling Emergencies 223 Getting Help Fast 223 Receiving Medical Attention 224 Describing what ails you 224 Understanding professional medical vocabulary 228 Getting what you need at the pharmacy 228 Braving the dentist 229 Handling Legal Matters 229 Reporting an accident 229 Reporting a robbery 230 Reporting a lost or stolen passport 233 Getting legal help 235 Dealing with Car Trouble 236 Book III: Grasping Basic Grammar Essentials for Communication 239 Chapter 1: What Do You Know? Parts of Speech 241 Recognizing the Parts of Speech 241 Nouns 245 Pronouns 246 Articles 246 Verbs 247 Adjectives 247 Adverbs 248 Prepositions 249 Conjunctions 249 Interjections 250 Conjugating Verbs in the Present Tense 250 Identifying infinitives 250 Establishing subject-verb agreement 251 Moving on to Other Verb Tenses 251 Composing a Simple Sentence 252 Chapter 2: Noun and Article Basics: Gender and Number 253 A Primer on Articles 254 Definite articles: Dealing with "the" 254 Indefinite articles: Saying "a" or "an" 256 Distinguishing between Masculine and Feminine Nouns 257 Recognizing common noun endings 257 Sorting nouns into classes 258 Moving from Singular to Plural: Basic Rules 260 Making Exceptions to the Basic Rules on Number 261 Changing more than just the ending 262 Changing only the article 263 Using nouns only in the singular or the plural 263 Deciding When to Include an Article 264 When (and when not) to use a definite article 264 When (and when not) to use an indefinite article 266 Chapter 3: All about Pronouns 267 Meeting the Subject Pronouns 268 Knowing when to use subject pronouns 269 Adapting subject pronouns for informal and formal usage 269 Emphasizing Stressed Pronouns 270 Digging into Direct Object Pronouns 271 What direct object pronouns are and what they do 271 Where to place direct object pronouns 272 Investigating Indirect Object Pronouns 273 Forming Double Pronouns 274 Figuring out how to replace direct and indirect object pronouns 275 Checking out common double pronouns 276 But Wait, There''s More! Special Italian Pronouns 276 The adverbial pronoun ci 277 The pronoun ne 278 When the Subject Is Also the Object: Reflexive Pronouns 280 Chapter 4: Adjectives, Adverbs, and Comparisons 281 Matching Adjectives to Nouns in Gender and Number 282 Regular adjectives 283 Irregular adjectives 284 Invariable adjectives 285 Associating One Adjective with More Than One Noun 286 Putting Adjectives in Their Place 286 Recognizing the adjectives that come before nouns 287 Using placement to change an adjective''s meaning 287 Forming Adverbs the Italian Way 288 Original adverbs 288 Derived adverbs 290 Finding a Place for Adverbs 290 Making Comparisons 292 Comparisons of equality 292 Comparisons of inequality 293 The best and the worst: Superlatives 294 Special comparatives and superlatives 295 Chapter 5: Meeting the Challen.