11. What’s With The Last Name? (5 Minutes A Day)

  Level: 5 Minutes A Day

LearnItalianPodLearn Italian with LearnItalianPod.com – Episode #11 of LearnItalianPod “5 Minutes A Day” lesson series is entitled “What’s With The Last Name?”. What’s really interesting about Italian last names is that the vast majority of them were created from a few very specific sources: from a parent’s name, from a job or trade, from a nickname describing a unique quality, or from a location’s name. For this reason, they usually yield some important clues about family heritage.

So, let’s learn some very interesting cultural facts about Italians and let’s find out what those Italian last names really mean! — On the practice section of this lesson, you will also find a thorough grammar explanation of the important “present and past participle of verbs” with lots of extra example sentences.

[How Would You Say It: Weather and Seasons - LearnItalianPod VIP Members Extra Bonus!] Login to the Learning Center to find, as a special extra bonus, a super useful audio file with PDF transcript entitled “How Would You Say It: Weather and Seasons“, a terrific way to test and improve your knowledge of Italian by translating sentences on the fly. Practice this, and weather won’t be an issue in Italy!

5 Minutes A Day – Episode #11

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 8:45 pm and is filed under 5 Minutes A Day. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

6 Responses to "11. What’s With The Last Name? (5 Minutes A Day)"

Gordon Cappelletty Says:
March 16th, 2010 at 2:57 pm

Very interesting and useful. The exercises at the end concerning the past participle and present participle are very helpful.

Tommaso Says:
March 17th, 2010 at 9:38 am

About Italian last names, I just found out that my last name, Rossi, is the most common last name in Italy! Nice episode, Jane and Massimo.

Virginia Says:
March 17th, 2010 at 5:42 pm

My grandfather last name is Lombardi, I assume it’s because it is derived from the region Lombardia. In fact, my great-great-grandfather was born in Varese.

Carlos Says:
March 18th, 2010 at 9:46 am

As a VIP member, I’ve enjoyed the practice section of the episode and the grammar explanation of present and past participle. For irregular verbs past participle must be memorized as the rule doesn’t apply: flashcards are very useful to understand this.

jeannene Says:
March 28th, 2010 at 9:22 pm

 HI,

I need help reviewing when to use stare and when to use essere. Is there a lesson that goes over that?

Grazie!!

J

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