Duration
4 weeksWeekly study
4 hours100% online
How it works
Italian for Beginners 2: My Friends and Family
This online course is the second of six courses. It will introduce you to the language that you need to:
- introduce people;
- exchange contact information (address, telephone number, e-mail);
- use numbers;
- exchange information about people;
- talk about your family;
- describe people and the clothes they wear.
Talk about people and family in Italian
During the four weeks of the course, you will learn the vocabulary and phrases you need to talk about friends and family, and the present tense of some basic verbs, such as avere (to have). You will also learn how to ask questions in Italian. You will continue to develop your speaking, listening, reading and writing skills, through the activities and the audio resources.
You will find tips and advice on how to develop your study skills, as well as cultural information about people in Italy and about the Italian regions.
Syllabus
Week 1
Introducing people and exchanging contact details
Introducing people
In this activity you learn how to introduce people to each other, in both formal and informal situations, and how to reply. You will also learn about Italian first names, and some conventions and traditions.
Pronouncing Italian double consonants
Many Italian names and surnames and many Italian words contain double consonants. In this activity, you will learn how to pronounce them.
Exchanging phone numbers
In this section you will learn how to count from 0 to 10 in Italian and how to ask for and give phone numbers.
Exchanging addresses
In this activity, you will learn to ask for and give addresses and email addresses. You will also learn to count from 11 to 19 find out about the different regions of Italy.
Exchanging information about people
In this activity, you will learn how to give personal information about more than one person. This will involve using plural forms of verbs in the present tense.
Over to you
Here you can find some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week. A range of additional audios are available for purchase, to help you consolidate the words and expressions covered each week.
Week 2
Families and relatives
Describing family relationships
In this activity you will learn vocabulary to describe family relationships.
Using possessive adjectives to talk about families
In this activity, you will learn how to use possessive adjectives to describe relationships.
Asking and saying a person’s age
When talking about relatives you may want to mention or enquire about their ages. In this activity, you will first learn the numbers from 20 to 100 and then how to ask and say a person’s age.
Over to you
Here you can find some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week. A range of additional audios are available for purchase, to help you consolidate the words and expressions covered each week.
Week 3
Clothes, colours, patterns and fabrics
Talking about clothes
This activity introduces the vocabulary for clothes and some ways of talking about what you wear.
Colours, fabrics and patterns
In this activity you will learn to describe items of clothing using the words for some colours, common fabrics and patterns.
Talking about what you wear
This activity introduces ways of talking about what you wear and about different clothing styles.
Pronouncing Sc and sch
You have come across several words where the letter combination sc is found, such as strisce, scialle and sciarpa, etc. Now you can find out the different ways in which this letter combination is pronounced by using place names.
Over to you
Learning another language requires personal effort. Here you can find some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week. A range of additional audios are available for purchase, to help you consolidate the words and
Week 4
Describing people
Describing people’s physical appearance
In this activity you will learn to describe people, using nouns and adjectives to talk about their physical features.
Describing features of hair and face
When describing someone’s physical appearance, people often mention what their hair and face are like. You will now learn how to describe various features of the face and head.
Describing personality
In this activity, you will learn how to describe people’s character and personality and will meet some characters of the traditional Italian theatrical genre, la Commedia dell’Arte.
Intensifying the adjective
When describing someone’s personality using an adjective, we often use a word (an adverb) that intensifies or minimises its meaning.
Over to you
Learning another language requires personal effort. Here you can find some guidance to get the most out of what you learned this week. A range of additional audios are available for purchase, to help you consolidate the words and
When would you like to start?
Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.
Available now
Learning on this course
On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Develop skills in basic Italian for interacting in communicative situations
- Engage in simple communication in Italian
- Apply the language introduced to exchange information about people and contact details, make introductions and use numbers
- Apply the language introduced to talk about your family and describe people and the clothes they wear
Who is the course for?
This course is aimed at people with little prior knowledge of Italian, who want to learn the basic language and find out about Italy and its regions and culture. The course assumes that you have already studied the first course in the Italian for Beginners program. This course is taught through English.
Who will you learn with?
I am a Lecturer in Italian at The Open University. I am Italian but live in the UK. I love learning new languages, reading novels, walking in the country, listening to music and yoga.
OU associate lecturer and materials writer. I have written materials on business communication, Academic English and Italian.
Lecturer in Italian at the Open University, author of Italian course books. I'm Scottish but learnt Italian in Italy when young. I love singing, dancing and travelling around Italy.
Who developed the course?
Established
1969Location
Milton Keynes, UKWorld ranking
Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020
Ways to learn | Buy this course | Subscribe & save | Limited access |
---|---|---|---|
Choose the best way to learn for you! | $79/one-off payment | $244.99 for a whole year Automatically renews | Free |
Fulfill your current learning need | Develop skills to further your career | Sample the course materials | |
Access to this course | tick | tick | Access expires 5 Mar 2025 |
Access to 1,000+ courses | cross | tick | cross |
Learn at your own pace | tick | tick | cross |
Discuss your learning in comments | tick | tick | tick |
Tests to check your learning | tick | tick | cross |
Certificate when you're eligible | Printed and digital | Digital only | cross |
Cancel for free anytime |
Ways to learn
Choose the best way to learn for you!
Subscribe & save
$244.99 for a whole year
Automatically renews
Develop skills to further your career
- Access to this course
- Access to 1,000+ courses
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Digital certificate when you're eligible
Cancel for free anytime
Buy this course
$79/one-off payment
Fulfill your current learning need
- Access to this course
- Learn at your own pace
- Discuss your learning in comments
- Tests to boost your learning
- Printed and digital certificate when you’re eligible
Limited access
Free
Sample the course materials
- Access expires 5 Mar 2025
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades) Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply. |
Find out more about certificates, Unlimited or buying a course (Upgrades)
Sale price available until 3 March 2025 at 23:59 (UTC). T&Cs apply.
Learning on FutureLearn
Your learning, your rules
- Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
- Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
- Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores
Join a global classroom
- Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
- Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
- Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others
Map your progress
- As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
- Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
- Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate
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