List of Words where z is pronounced like ts II. On the Articles-Definite, Indefinite, and Partitive III. Of the Prepositions called Segnacasi, Signs for the Cases IV. Rules for forming the Plural of Nouns V. Rules for knowing the Genders of Nouns VI. On the Adjective XVIII. On the Indefinite Expressions, "They say," "People say," or, "It is said," &c., rendered by the indefinite pronoun si, in Italian XX. On Expletive Participles, and on words which are susceptible of Phrases, Idioms, Proverbs, and Peculiarities of the Italian language, Selection of various Historical Anecdotes, moral and entertaining A few select Letters, &c., to show the epistolary style Extracts from a Pastoral Poem DEFINITIONS. GRAMMAR is the art of speaking and writing correctly. The ARTICLE is a small word placed before the noun, and which describes its genders, number, and case. The NOUN, or SUBSTANTIVE, designates persons or things. The ADJECTIVE expresses a quality of the persons or things. The GENDERS have in their origin a relation to the words belonging to either sex. In Italian there are two genders, the masculine and feminine. There are two numbers, the singular and plural; the former designating one person or thing, the latter several persons or things. The AUGMENTATIVE is said of certain terminations which serve to augment the sense of nouns. The DIMINUTIVE is a termination which diminishes the force of the word. An ADJECTIVE is in the positive degree, when it expresses simply the quality; it is comparative, when, besides the quality, it expresses the comparison; it is superlative, when it expresses the quality in a very high, ar in the highest degree. The SUPERLATIVE may be absolute or relative. The absolute-superlative expresses a quality in the supreme degree, but without any relation to another object: the relative-superlative expresses the quality in the highest degree, with reference to another object. NOUNS OF NUMBER are those which are employed in reckoning. There are two kinds of these; the cardinal and the ordinal numbers. The CARDINAL NUMBERS are those which absolutely and simply serve to denote the different numbers. The ORDINAL NUMBERS denote the order and rank. The PRONOUN is a word which supplies the place of a noun. The PERSONAL PRONOUNS distinctly mark the person. The POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS mark the possession. The DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS indicate or shew the subject of the discourse. The RELATIVE PRONOUNS are those which relate to a noun, or to a pronoun, which precedes. The INDETERMINATE PRONOUNS usually express their object in a general and indeterminate manner. The VERB is a word which expresses either an action done, or an action received, by the subject; or rather, it merely signifies the state of the subject. The INFINITIVE expresses the action or state in general, without numbers or persons. The PARTICIPLE is so called, because it participates of the nature of the verb and of that of the adjective. The AUXILIARIES. There are two verbs so called, because they aid in conjugating all the others. The PREPOSITIONS mark the different relations which things have to each other. The ADVERB expresses some circumstances of the noun, of the verb, or even of some other adverb. The CONJUNCTIONS serve to connect the different parts of the discourse. The INTERJECTIONS serve to mark an affection or an emotion of soul, either of grief, joy, &c. The EXPLETIVE PARTICLES are certain words which enter into a phrase, without being absolutely necessary to the discourse, but which often give to it more energy or beauty. The ELLIPSIS is a figure by which some words are omitted, but understood, and must be supplied by the eader. AN ITALIAN GRAMMAR. LESSON I. ON ITALIAN PRONUNCIATION. THE Italian language has twenty-two letters, which are pronounced as follows: A, B, C, H, I, J, L, M, acca, e, e-e* elle, emme, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, Z. OBSERVATIONS. When several vowels are found united, as mai, miei tuoi, suoi, &c. each vowel must be pronounced, and yet they form only one syllable. Em, en, im, in, are pronounced as in the English words Memnon, enemy, immense, innate. Ce, ci, cce, cci, are pronounced like chey, chee.-Examples: Cesare, Cæsar; città, city; accento, accent; accidente, accident: pronounce, che-sar-rey, chit-tah, at-chen-to, at-che-den-tey. Che, chi, are pronounced kay, kee.-Ex.: Michele, Michael, chimera, chimera: pronounce Me-key-ley, keemey-rah. Ge, gi, are pronounced nearly the same as djay, djee. -Ex.: Gémere, to groan, gire, to go: pronounce d'jayma-rey, djee-rey. Ghe, ghi, are pronounced gay, ghee.-Ex.: Ghermire to seize, ghirlanda, garland: pronounce Gher-mee-rey, gueer-lan-da. The letter j is pronounced at the end of words like two distinct e's, one after another, and not as double ee in English, which only give the sound of single e. Gli has its peculiar pronunciation, somewhat similar to the letters Illyee, as in the words bigliardo, billiards; biglietto, note; giglio, lily; but in the word negligere and its derivatives, it is pronounced the same as in English, as negligentare, to neglect, negligenza, negligence, negligente, negligent, negligentemente, negligently: and also in Anglia, Angli, poetical words for England, Englishman. Gua, gue, gui, are pronounced guah, guay, guee.Ex.: Guadagno, gain, guerre, war, guida, guide: pronounce guah-dah-nio, guer-rah, guee-dah. The letter I preceded by a c or a g, and followed by a vowel is pronounced rapidly. Ex.: cielo, sky; ciò, that: giusto, just: pronounce tchelo, tchio, djousto. J, called in Italian i lungo, a long I is pronounced the same as e in the beginning and in the middle of words; at the end of words it is pronounced like double e, or two separate e's.-Ex.: Jeri, yesterday, ajuto, aid, desiderj, desires, pronounce e-air-e, aye-oo-to, dey-see-dey re-e. Qua, que, qui, quo, are pronounced cou-ah, cou-ay, cou-ee, cou-o.-Ex.: Quadro, picture, quello, that, quivi, there, obbliquo, oblique: pronounce, coua-dro, cou-el-lo, coue-ve, ob-ble-cou-o. Sci, sce, are pronounced like sh in English; as sciagura, misfortune, scena, scene, conosciuto, known, scègliere, to choose, sciogliere, to untie: pronounce sha-goor-ah, shey-nah, cono-shoo-to, shey-lee-air-ee, show-lee-air-ee. A single S between two vowels is pronounced like Z. Ex.; Sposa, spouse; casa, house; cosa, thing; except in compound words where one S is sounded like double S. Ex.: dicesi, it is said, risonare, to sound again, and likewise così, thus: pronounce de-che-see, re-son-ah-re, cos-see. Z is pronounced nearly like ts in some words, and ds in others: Vizio, vice, avarizia, avarice: pronounce vitsi-o, ava-rit-si-a: azzurro, blue, mezzo, middle; pronounce ad-zur-ro, med-zo. It is requisite to remark, for the more easy guidance of the young pupil, that, although the h is generally a mere sign in Italian, not being pronounced, yet, when it intervenes between the sc before a vowel, it changes the sound; that is to say, before e and i. The sce being pronounced |