Favorite Aspects of Italian

Okay, I learned French in the past as well as Italian and can't help compare the two. First of all, I find Italian to be much more logical in regards to identifying gender in words. French has so many exceptions! Normally with Italian, if it ends in O it's masculine and A it's feminine. But there are "some" exceptions like la mano (hand).

Plus, I think Italian just sounds beautiful in general but that's just me.

>>Plus, I think Italian just sounds beautiful in general but that's just me.

Yes, beautiful it sounds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFFjJxDjLO8

:))

<<But there are "some" exceptions like la mano (hand).>>

Are these o/a exceptions similar to the exceptions in Spanish?

<<Are these o/a exceptions similar to the exceptions in Spanish?>>

I remember they are just the same in Italian and Spanish (especially for some words of Greek origin, compounds with '-ista', come others):

la mano - la mano
el sistema - il sistema
el comunista - il comunista

L'italien n'est qu'une sous langue du français. en effet, l'italien reflète une culture, un peuple bien moins développé que la culture française. Pourquoi faire compliqué pour un peuple qui ne sait faire que cuisiner des pizzas? Qui aime la vulgarité (dolce Gabane), le brillant et qui s'adonne à la religion de manière irraisonnée. L'Italie est un peuple frustrée qui eut un nombre de par son passé important de fascistes au pouvoir. Je ne citerais que César et Mussolini et Berlusconi.
L'italie devrait prendre exemple sur la france. Pays au combien supérieur en tous points avec sa petite soeur.
Je ne peux qu'être attristé lorsque je vois toutes ces italiennes s'adonner à la prostitution. Les italiens sont un peuple religieux sans moral.

Greg, that's a problem I've seen with some French people. Very poor polyglots! While everyone else here is writing in English, you're writing in French. And probably just to be annoying.

Italian has more irregularities than Spanish and grammaticaly isn't easier than FRench at least at an advanced level.
Some words are masculine in singular such as l'uovo (egg) il dito (finger) labbro (lip) and so on and they turn into feminine in plural, with a particular ending in in - a like neuter latin
so
l'uovo le uova (eggs)
il dito le dita (fingers)
il labbro le labbra (lips)
Some words have even two different plurals according to the meaning
il grido le grida, i gridi
urlo, le urla, gli urli
osso (bone) le ossa, gli ossi
Some nouns have unpredictable plurals like uomo (man)= uomini il dio (god) gli dèi) il tempio (temple) i templi.
Spanish has no irregular plural, more or less like Esperanto.

Italian is rich in diminutives, augmentatives and so on like Spanish and even more, French like English makes use of analytical forms most of the time:
cane (dog) cagnolino (small dog) chien (petit chien)
cagnaccio= bad dog - vilain chien, un chien méchant
cagnone = big dog - gros chien
cagnetto = small dog and son
every single noun can change this way with differnt sets of endings.

All words ending in -e (about 30%) may be masculine or feminine, so you have to memorize the gender by heart
there are words ending in -ù -à -i
Articles and compound prepositions are more complex than Spanish and FRench.
As for the verbal system, French has lost some tenses which are normaly used in Italian as the imperfect of the subjunctive mood. Even the simple past is more used in Italian than in French particularly in some regions.

Last but not least Italian uses two auxiliary verbs to form all compound tenses unlike Spanish and English. The usage of the auxiliary essere ( to be) is more widespread than in French
il tempo è cambiato = le temps a changé = the weather has changed
Mi è piaciuta = elle m'a plu = I liked her
è scomparso = il a disparu = he has disappeared
and so on

Some words are masculine in singular such as l'uovo (egg) il dito (finger) labbro (lip) and so on and they turn into feminine in plural, with a particular ending in in - a like neuter latin
so
l'uovo le uova (eggs)
il dito le dita (fingers)
il labbro le labbra (lips)

They turn into neuter.

"simple past is more used in Italian than in French"

Le passé simple n'est jamais employé en français parlé.

''I think Italian just sounds beautiful in general but that's just me. ''

I don't think Italian sounds beautiful. 80% of Italians have ugly accents.

Those 20% who have accents close to the standard one (Tuscan and Roman ''lingua toscana in bocca romana) and respect the rules of Italian pronunciation (clear distinction between open and closed vowels: è é ò ó, and clear pronouncing of double consonants: bèl-la, and not bé-la or bè-la) are the only one that have the beautiful pronunciation.

But there is nothing uglier than accents from North (in Turin they pronounce all vowels open: giòrno, vèrde, so ugly, or in Milan when they pronounce double consonants as single, and they use wrong vowels perchè, ventritrè instead of perché, ventitré; or they have that ugly nasal pronunciation témpo, vénto, béne, niénte, instead of open and oral tèmpo, vènto, bène, niènte)...North and South of Italy speak a very bad Italian, pronunciation-wise; Central Italy (Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Rome) is the only place in Italy where the language of Dante is spoken in a clear form.

Well I have to agree with the last one but I also have to underline that a truly Italian standard doesn't exist. Even the one you named as standard Italian is just a variety of the Italian language spoken in Tuscany and bordering regions and the written language and all the grammar rules have been drawn and modelled after it, but still it's not that very variety the standard one.
The truth is that more or less 50% of us speak a northern variety of Italian (with different accents) and for northern speakers the distinction between open or closed vowels is not necessary (this is a plus, believe me!) because the word has still its own meaning.
Of course there are people that learn the right "dizione", the right pronunciation, but they are found mostly at the TV and, personally, I find them quite pathetic.

Kess said: " (clear distinction between open and closed vowels: è é ò ó, and clear pronouncing of double consonants: bèl-la, and not bé-la or bè-la)"
As I wrote, the first part is correct but the second is now only found in very heavy accents (like the Roman one, maybe) or even just in dialects. Consonants quantity is always distinctive in Italian and that has to be pronunced.

the distinction between open or closed vowels is not necessary (this is a plus, believe me!) because the word has still its own meaning.


This is not true
I'm from central Italy and the northern pronunciation is so awful and often not clear
for instance they can't distinguish between pèsca (peach) and pésca fishing. Dear Luca this is so important to my ears!
accètta and accétta
bòtte and botte and so on...

"I'm from central Italy"

J'avais cette sensation...

Distinction voyelles ouvertes / fermées: il y a si peu de sons vocaliques en italien (seulement 7 sauf erreur) que ce serait vraiment idiot d'en supprimer.

Les Français (selon les régions) en utilisent entre 12 et 15 et vivent très bien avec...

Beh "accettalo" purista! :-D
In Italia del nord questo non provoca nessuno scompiglio e penso sia molto più utile perché semplifica la vita a tutti. Il significato della parola è già ben comprensibile dal contesto e ci sono anche altre lingue in cui questo accade (verissimo anche che ce ne sono altrettante che distinguono meticolosamente i gradi vocalici).

bien moins développé que la culture française


ahhahahahahah quelle betise!
Ouvre un livre d'art, mon cher Greg?? Est-ce que tu sais lire?? Est-ce que tu connais la musique classique? Tu connais le patrimoine artistique de l'Italie? Pas de comparaison avec la France! A propos.... est-ce que tu connais des langues étrangeres?