Expressing frequency in Italian (With examples)

 Hey guys, I hope you are doing awesome!

Today, some words in Italian to express frequency:

• Usually: Di solito
• Often: Spesso
• Sometimes: Qualche volta
• Rarely: Raramente (More straightforward this one hahah)
• Almost never: Quasi mai
• Never: Mai

Now, let's check it with some examples:

Obs: Words inside parentheses mean they are optional. You may use them or not, as you wish :)

I usually write poems

(Io) di solito scrivo poesie

I often sleep late

(Io) spesso dormo fino a tardi

She arrives late sometimes

Qualche volta (lei) arriva in ritardo

I usually don't sleep early = I rarely sleep early

(Io) raramente dormo presto

This one won't sound that English because it is more likely you are going to say "Rarely" but try to understand it anyway :) 

I almost never do the dishes

(Io) non lavo quasi mai i piatti

I never go to the grocery store

(Io) non vado mai al supermercato

Ok, that's it!

I hope you enjoyed it!

See you!

Kyle.

(Caio).

Greetings and small-talk in Italian

Hello everyone,

Today let's practice some Italian!

You know, when you are learning a language, it is always important to learn something useful. Something that may make a difference in your day.

So that's what we are going to do.

One common thing when you are abroad (And when you are in your country) is small-talking.

So, imagine this, you are outside, and then you meet someone and decide to do the famous small-talking (Pretty small, but most common that we may count)

       - Hey, how are you?

       - Fine, thanks. And what about you?

       - Fine too. Have a good day

       - You too! See you tomorrow!

Ok, that's simple, however, most common that we may count (We do this more than we think, and it is super-useful indeed.

So, how is it in Italian?

       - Ciao "Person's name". Come stai?

       - Bene/Tutto bene. Grazie. E tu

       - Anche bene! Buona giornata!

       - Anche a te! A domani (Ci vediamo domani)

Cool, isn't it?

Of course, you can have some variations in the greetings, like:

Come stai?-> Come va?

Bene -> Abbastanza bene(Quite good)

Bene -> Benissimo (Super good)

Bene -> Così e così (So, so)

Bene -> Male (Bad) (But certainly it wouldn't lead to small talk but to an extensive and deeper conversation hahaha)

A domani -> A presto! (Like: See you soon)

So, that's it!

If you like. it, please leave a comment below :)

Have a good day!

See you!

Chinese characters explained for school subjects (Part 1)

Hello everyone,

In today's post, we will examine the character formation of the school's subjects in detail.

You can find the school subjects table at the following link.

I will divide it into a couple of posts because it is quite lengthy.

At first, It doesn't look that fascinating. However, one of the interesting things about the Chinese language is that most of the characters can be explained and understood. Therefore, you can fully understand a word only by examining its characters (Even the pronunciation you can get).

So, let's see!

1) 化学 (Chemistry)

化 (Huà) meaning is:

•    to make into / to change into

You can see this word in 变化 (biànhuà), to change (v.) or change(n.).

Besides, you can find it in 花 (Huā), a flower.  

(艹 (cao) and 化 for pronunciation).

化 is formed by two people followed by two people up-side down, meaning death. So, we have life and death in the same character, meaning change.

And what is chemistry if not the science of transforming/transmuting things to another (In ancient times related to alchemy).

 "...Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed" 

(Lavoiser).

So, that's a reasonable explanation for 化学.

2) 物理 (Physics)

The first character is 物 (wù) means:

• Thing, matter
• Content, substance

It is formed by 牛 (niú), cow (To give a meaning of something physical, like a cow pulling a plow), and 勿 (wù, for pronunciation). 

You can find 物 in words like

动物 - Animal - Thing that moves

植物 - Plant - Thing that is a plant/grows

理 (Lǐ), reason and logic. You can find this character in the word 理解 (Lǐjiě), to understand, understanding.

So, since 物 has this deep meaning of substance of things and 理 as reason, you can understand 物理 as logic/reason behind the substances that form this universe.

3) 科学 (Science)

科 (Kē), means branch (Part of, in the sense of division).

So, without much mystery, science is a generic term for a group of studies.

School Subjects in Chinese/English

Hello everyone,

I was talking with a friend, and she asked me about my favorite and not favorite school subjects at that time.

(Which was History and Art by the way).

Then I found myself not knowing all the subjects in Chinese (She is a Chinese friend).

So, here they are :)

Scholl subjects:

Subject	Chinese	Pinyin
Chemistry	化学	Huàxué
Physics	物理	Wùlǐ
Science	科学	Kēxué
Math	数学	Shùxué
Physical Education	体育	Tǐyù
Art	美术	Měishù
Music	音乐	Yīnyuè
Language	语文	Yǔwén
English	英语	Yīngyǔ
History	历史	Lìshǐ
Geography	地理学	Dìlǐ xué

I hope you enjoyed it!

Kyle.

What is the difference between Apporter, Emporter, Amener, Emmener, Ramener and others

Hello everyone,

Have you ever struggled with some French verbs that really look alike??

Well, who hasn't?

And honestly, some of them are really used daily, like:

"Take you there", "bring you this", "take that", "I hear", "I wait", "I turned it off" and so on.

So, let's see the first group:

1) Apporter, Emporter, Amener, Emmener, Ramener

Ok, they look quite similar, and they are all about the same stuff:

Bring/take with someone/something.

Most spoken languages in the world only have two verbs for all those situations:

- To Bring

- To take

However, the French language splits them into more categories according to the "object" of the phrase and situation. So, that's why it is so confusing.

Instead of simply giving the definitions, let's talk about some real scenarios where you can see them in use (Then we go back to the definition later)

1) You want to ask to bring something to you:

• Could you bring some salt, please?
• Could you bring some napkins?
• Could you bring that thing there?
• Don't forget to bring your laptop next time!

In this case, it is apporter!

Porter you can relate to port (Like Docks); You know, the Docks? That is a port. A place where things arrive and leave by ship. So, apporter = "bring things".

Translating the examples above:

• Est-ce que vous pourriez m'apporter du sel, s'il vous plaît?
• Est-ce que vous pourriez m'apporter quelques serviettes, s'il vous plaît?
• Est-ce que tu peux m'apporter le truc qui est là-bas? (And you point out a thing)
• N'oublie pas d'apporter ton ordinateur portable la prochaine fois

Obs: Pronouns and prepositions you need to figure out according to the situation, like: m'apporter, d'apporter.

2) You want to take something out with you

So, let's say:

- Can I take it with me?

- To eat in or to take away? Take away

Well, in this case, it is emporter!

Same principle.

Porter you can relate to port (Like Docks); You know, the Docks? That is a port. A place where things arrive and leave by ship. So, emporter = "to take things".

So, let's see the translation to the examples above:

- Est-ce que je peux l'emporter?

- Sûr place ou pour emporter? Emporter (Or "pour emporter")

3) You want to take someone somewhere.

Ok, let's see a case like this:

Someone is lost, wants to find the exit, and asks for your help. And since you are nice, you will take the person to that place. Then you say: - Ah, finding your way out is a little bit hard indeed. Don't worry, I will take you there

In this case, it is emmener!

- Ah, c'est un peu difficile de trouver la sortie! Ne vous inquiétez pas, je vous y emmène!

Obs: "Y" is the pronoun that replaces the place, in this case, "La sortie".

4) You want to bring someone with you

Ok, the same thing as apporter, but in this case, you are bringing someone (Or another living thing: A pet, for example).

- Can I bring a friend?

- Who will you bring with you?

In this case, it is amener!

- Est-ce que je peux amener un ami?

- Qui vas-tu amener? (Or even more informal "Tu amenerai qui?")

5) Ramener = Amener

Ok, this one, I listed directly like above because it is the same as "Amener": To bring someone (Or some living being) with you. It is interchangeable with "Amener".

Definitions:

Apporter: Porter avec soi quelque chose en venant dans un lieu.

Emmener: Mener quelqu'un avec soi d'un lieu dans un autre.

Amener: Faire venir quelqu'un avec soi; Dites-moi ce qui vous amène.

Emporter: Prendre quelque chose avec soi en quittant un lieu; Il est sorti sans emporter ses clés.

Rule of thumb

(To help you memorize them):

Porter: Things

Mener: Living beings

So,

Aporter, Emporter for things

Amener, Emmener, for living beings

Prefix "A" to bring to/with you (I am using "to you" just to be didactic)

Prefix "E" to take with you.

2) Group entendre, eteindre, attendre, atteindre.

Ok, their usage is simple; however, it turns tricky because of their pronunciation since they may sound so similar. There is a slight pronunciation difference between "en" and "ein" (Attendre and etteindre for example).

For this group, I will give you the definitions directly (Because it is not hard to learn their utilization, just the pronunciation).

Entendre

Meaning: To hear

Ex: You are in an online meeting room and unsure if people on the other side can hear you.

So,

- Can you hear me

- Tu m'entends? - Talking to a colleague

- Vous m'entendez? - Talking to some group (Or to someone in formal mode)

Eteindre

Meaning: To turn off

- Who turned off the lights?

- Qui a éteint les lumières?

Attendre

Meaning: To wait

- I hate to wait

- The line was huge!

So,

- Je déteste attendre

- La queue d'attente était énorme!

Atteindre

Meaning: To reach

So, let's say

You reach the max amount of data in your mobile plan and receive a text message from them.

"Vous avez atteint votre limit de 15Gb mensuele. Veillez vous..."

3) Group Passer, depasser and repasser

Ok, the only tricky thing here is not to use passer as "exceed".

Passer means "To pass by or to happen".

For example,

I will pass there	Je vais passer lá-bas
I passed by him	​Je lui ai passé
She passed by me	Elle m'a passé
I passed by that store and it was closed.	J'ai passé là-bas et le magasin était fermé.
What is happening here?	Qu'est-ce qu'il se passe?
What happened?	​Qu'est-ce qu'il s'est passé?

Depasser

This means "To exceed or surpass".

So, imagine you receive your mobile bill and notice that you have to pay extra money (exceeding the amount you have hired). Then you decide to call customer service in order to figure out what happened. Then they tell you the following:

"That happened because the number of minutes spent in calls exceeded what you hired in your plan. That's why your bill surpassed the value you are used to paying".

"Ce qu'a passé c'est que vous avez dépassé la quantité contractée pour votre plan. C'est pour ça que le montant de votre facture a dépassé le valuer que vous êtes habitué à payer".

Repasser

This means "To iron".

Yes, simply like that, to iron.

- My clothes are still wrinkled. I will iron them again

- Mes vêtements sont encore froissés. Je vais les dépasser encore à nouveau.

Conclusion

Ok, that's it!

I hope you liked it!

See you on the next post.

À toute, àt la prochaine!

Kyle.