Italian language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Italian |
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| Italiano, Lingua italiana | ||||
| Native to | Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, Slovenia (Slovenian Istria), Croatia (Istria County), and the Italian diaspora | |||
| Region | (widely known among older people and in commercial sectors in Somalia, Eritrea, and Libya; used in the Federal Government of Somalia) | |||
| Native speakers | 59 million Italian proper, native and native bilingual (2007) 85 million all varieties |
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| Language family | ||||
| Writing system | Latin (Italian alphabet) Italian Braille |
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| Official status | ||||
| Official language in |  European Union Malta Italy Switzerland San Marino Vatican City Slovenia (Slovenian Istria) Croatia (Istria County) Brazil (Talian dialect in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina) |
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| Regulated by | not officially by Accademia della Crusca | |||
| Linguasphere | 51-AAA-q | |||
Where Italian is spoken in Europe
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The Italian language is a beautiful Romance language spoken mainly in Italy. It's like a cousin to languages such as French, Spanish, and Portuguese, all of which grew from Latin. Italian is also an official language in San Marino, Vatican City, and Switzerland. In some parts of Slovenia and Croatia, Italian is also used officially.
Around 70 million people speak Italian across many countries. This includes places like Monaco, Malta, Albania, and parts of Africa where Italy once had connections, such as Eritrea and Libya. The standard Italian you learn and read comes mostly from the Tuscany region in Italy. However, people in different areas also speak their own local versions, called dialects.
Contents
How Italian Words Change
Italian words often change their endings to show different meanings. This is called an inflected language. It's a bit like how we add 's' to make a word plural in English, but Italian does it for more things.
Word Gender in Italian
In Italian, every noun (a word for a person, place, or thing) has a "gender." It's either masculine or feminine. This doesn't always mean it's actually male or female. For example, a table (tavolo) is masculine, and a chair (sedia) is feminine.
- Most singular masculine nouns end with the letter -o.
- Most plural masculine nouns end with the letter -i.
- Most singular feminine nouns end with the letter -a.
- Most plural feminine nouns end with the letter -e.
Let's look at some examples:
- gatto = male cat (ends in -o)
- gatta = female cat (ends in -a)
- gatti = male cats (ends in -i)
- gatte = female cats (ends in -e)
Verb Endings and Conjugation
The endings of verbs (action words) in Italian are quite detailed. This is called conjugation. The ending changes based on:
- The tense of the verb (when the action happens: past, present, future).
- The person doing the action (who is doing it: I, you, he/she, we, they).
Because the ending tells you who is doing the action, you don't always need to say the personal pronoun (like "I" or "we").
Here are some examples of the verb parlare (to speak):
- (io) parlo = I speak
- (noi) parliamo = we speak
- (lui) parlava = he was speaking
- (loro) parlarono = they spoke
- (io) parlerò = I will speak
- parliamo! = let's speak!
Learning all these endings can be one of the trickier parts of Italian grammar. But on the bright side, Italian pronunciation is quite simple! There are only a few rules, and most sounds are easy to make.
Italian Words in English
You might be surprised how many Italian words you already know! Many words for food have come into the English language, such as:
Italian is also very important in music. Many technical words used in music are Italian, like:
Even some musical instrument names are Italian, such as cello and tuba.
Images for kids
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Pietro Bembo helped shape the Italian language, making the Tuscan dialect a standard for writing.
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Alessandro Manzoni helped create the modern Italian language, bringing linguistic unity to Italy.
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Italy and its colonial areas in 1940.
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A map showing different Italian dialects in 1937.
See also
In Spanish: Idioma italiano para niños
