Radio Arlecchino

Welcome to the weblog for Radio Arlecchino, Italian grammar made easy!   Arlecchino, Pulcinella and other masks of the Italian Commedia dell’arte will help you learn the subtleties of Italian grammar, one zany episode at a time.

Podcasts are built around dialogs that explain the Italian grammar behind communicative language functions – functions like describing and comparing, recommending and expressing opinions, recounting the past, expressing likes and dislikes, hypothesizing, and talking about the future.

You can download pdf files to read dialog transcripts and learn more from additional grammar and cultural notes.

You can ask questions on the blog … where you are, now.   Your questions (and answers) will help others who are experiencing the same challenges.   So please contribute your thoughts and your words.

Come join our community, and learn Italian with our podcast team.   Tell your friends you heard it conjugated on Radio Arlecchino!

Learners of Italian sometimes have a hard time picking the right verb tense when they are narrating past events, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. Today’s episode, when Arlecchino visits the king, will help you understand the difference between the passato prossimo and the imperfetto. Events that occur in a sequence that move the plot forward are expressed by the passato prossimo. Events that give descriptive details or background information are always in the imperfetto.

Here comes Arlecchino – let’s tune in and listen.

PODCAST LINK: Episode 1