• The Open University

Italian for Beginners 2: My Friends and Family

Learn how to introduce people, exchange information about them and talk about your family.

52,695 enrolled on this course

Italian for Beginners 2

Italian for Beginners 2: My Friends and Family

52,695 enrolled on this course

  • 4 weeks

  • 4 hours per week

  • Digital certificate when eligible

  • Introductory level

Find out more about how to join this course

  • Duration

    4 weeks
  • Weekly study

    4 hours
  • 100% online

    How it works
  • Unlimited subscription

    $244.99 for a whole yearLearn more

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.

    • The double letters tt, rr, pp, nn, ss, ll

      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.

    • The Italian word poco, shown small and pale, and molto, shown large and intense

      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?

Anna Motzo

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.

Anna  Calvi

OU associate lecturer and materials writer. I have written materials on business communication, Academic English and Italian.

Anna Proudfoot

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?

The Open University

The Open University

As the UK’s largest university, The Open University (OU) supports thousands of students to achieve their goals and ambitions via supported distance learning, helping to fit learning around professional and personal life commitments.

  • Established

    1969
  • Location

    Milton Keynes, UK
  • World ranking

    Top 510Source: Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020

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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.

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