Chapter 10 of 16 · Explore the Italian path
Optional reference · Chapter 10 of 16
Word lookup: numbers, colours, people, animals, weather
Open this when a word blocks you. One to ten, eight colours, the people and animals a fable is full of, and the words for the weather and the world it happens in.
≈ 8 min of reading · Practise at your own pace
What’s in this chapter
- Open this when a word blocks you. The two readings ahead need none of it.
- Every noun is listed with its little word, because that is what tells you its family.
- One to ten, eight colours, ten people, twelve animals, and fourteen nouns for the world a fable happens in.
- With a single family member Italian drops the word for “the”: mia madre, not la mia madre.
- Weather is a doing word with nobody doing it: Piove is the whole sentence for “it is raining”.
You do not need this section to finish the lesson. Open it when a book puts a number, a colour, a family word or an animal in front of you and you want it named. None of these words appears in the two stories at the end, so nothing here is homework — and reading the lists straight through is the least useful thing you could do with them.
One to ten
Look up the number you need. The last column shows how to say it out loud.
| English | Italian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| one | uno | OO-noh |
| two | due | DOO-eh |
| three | tre | treh |
| four | quattro | KWAHT-troh |
| five | cinque | CHEEN-kweh |
| six | sei | say |
| seven | sette | SEHT-teh |
| eight | otto | OHT-toh |
| nine | nove | NOH-veh |
| ten | dieci | DYEH-chee |
Three of them are doubled — quattro, sette, otto — so hold the middle. Uno is also the word for “a”, and sei is also “you are”. After a number the thing goes plural, and the little word in front of it follows: i tre cani, le due case.
Eight colours
A colour behaves like any other describing word, so it copies the ending of the thing it describes. The last two columns give you both shapes.
| English | With a masculine thing | With a feminine thing |
|---|---|---|
| red | rosso | rossa |
| black | nero | nera |
| white | bianco | bianca |
| yellow | giallo | gialla |
| grey | grigio | grigia |
| green | verde | verde |
| brown | marrone | marrone |
| blue | blu | blu |
Colours sit after the thing, like any describing word: un gatto nero
Ten people
Each word is listed with its little word in front, because that is what tells you which family it belongs to.
| English | Italian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| mother | la madre | lah MAH-dreh |
| father | il padre | eel PAH-dreh |
| brother | il fratello | eel frah-TEHL-loh |
| sister | la sorella | lah soh-REHL-lah |
| man | l'uomo | LWOH-moh |
| woman | la donna | lah DOHN-nah |
| boy | il ragazzo | eel rah-GAHT-tsoh |
| girl | la ragazza | lah rah-GAHT-tsah |
| child | il bambino | eel bahm-BEE-noh |
| friend | l'amico | lah-MEE-koh |
With a single family member, Italian drops the word for “the” in front of my, your and his: mia madre
Twelve animals
Look one up when a book puts an animal in front of you. Each comes with its little word, so you get the family at the same time.
| English | Italian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| dog | il cane | eel KAH-neh |
| cat | il gatto | eel GAHT-toh |
| bird | l'uccello | loot-CHEHL-loh |
| fish | il pesce | eel PEH-sheh |
| horse | il cavallo | eel kah-VAHL-loh |
| mouse | il topo | eel TOH-poh |
| fox | la volpe | lah VOHL-peh |
| bear | l'orso | LOR-soh |
| rabbit | il coniglio | eel koh-NEE-lyoh |
| pig | il maiale | eel mah-YAH-leh |
| owl | il gufo | eel GOO-foh |
| wolf | il lupo | eel LOO-poh |
Three of them exercise the spelling rules: uccello has the soft ce, pesce the sh of sce, coniglio the gli of million. These twelve are the cast of nearly every fable you are about to read.
Sky, weather, ground and shelter
The words for the world a fable happens in. Find the one you need, then go straight back to the line you were reading.
| English | Italian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| sun | il sole | eel SOH-leh |
| moon | la luna | lah LOO-nah |
| day | il giorno | eel JOR-noh |
| night | la notte | lah NOHT-teh |
| sky | il cielo | eel CHEH-loh |
| rain | la pioggia | lah PYOHD-jah |
| wind | il vento | eel VEHN-toh |
| snow | la neve | lah NEH-veh |
| tree | l'albero | LAHL-beh-roh |
| wood | il bosco | eel BOH-skoh |
| house | la casa | lah KAH-zah |
| door | la porta | lah POR-tah |
| water | l'acqua | LAHK-kwah |
| road | la strada | lah STRAH-dah |
Bosco is the wood a fable happens in — walkable, with a path through it. Foresta is bigger and wilder, and is not the word you want.
When: the parts of a day, the week, the year
Use this when a line tells you when something happened. The rows run from the parts of a day out to the months of the year.
| English | Italian | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| morning | la mattina | lah maht-TEE-nah |
| afternoon | il pomeriggio | eel poh-meh-REED-joh |
| evening | la sera | lah SEH-rah |
| today · tomorrow · yesterday | oggi · domani · ieri | OHD-jee · doh-MAH-nee · YEH-ree |
| Monday to Sunday | lunedì, martedì, mercoledì, giovedì, venerdì · sabato · domenica | loo-neh-DEE … veh-nehr-DEE · SAH-bah-toh · doh-MEH-nee-kah |
| January to June | gennaio, febbraio, marzo, aprile, maggio, giugno | jehn-NAH-yoh, fehb-BRAH-yoh, MAR-tsoh, ah-PREE-leh, MAHD-joh, JOO-nyoh |
| July to December | luglio, agosto, settembre, ottobre, novembre, dicembre | LOO-lyoh, ah-GOH-stoh, seht-TEHM-breh, oht-TOH-breh, noh-VEHM-breh, dee-CHEHM-breh |
Days and months take no capital letter. Five weekdays end in stressed -dì, an old word for day; notte is in the table above. Di mattina