NYSTCE Italian (125) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Passato prossimo with essere

Compound past used with intransitive, motion, and all reflexive verbs; the past participle agrees with the subject in gender and number, as in lei è andata, loro sono partiti.

Congiuntivo presente triggers

Required after che with verbs of doubt, emotion, opinion, wish, and impersonal expressions such as penso che sia, spero che venga, è importante che capisca; not used after verbs of certainty.

Imperfetto versus passato prossimo

Imperfetto describes habitual, ongoing, or background past situations; passato prossimo reports completed single events. Together they express an interruption: leggevo quando ha telefonato.

Articolo lo and gli

Lo precedes masculine nouns starting with s plus consonant, z, gn, ps, x, or y; its plural is gli, which also serves vowel-initial masculine plurals such as gli amici.

Participle agreement with avere

With avere the participle is normally invariable, but it agrees with a preceding direct object pronoun: ho visto le ragazze becomes le ho viste; ci ha visti means he saw us.

Pronouns ci and ne

Ci replaces a place or a phrase introduced by a, in, su, or con; ne replaces partitive quantities and phrases introduced by di, as in ne ho comprati tre.

Comparative di versus che

Use più/meno ... di before nouns and pronouns; use più/meno ... che before adjectives, verbs, and prepositional phrases, as in è più facile dire che fare.

Preposizioni articolate

Contractions of preposition plus definite article: di+il gives del, a+lo gives allo, da+gli gives dagli, in+la gives nella, su+i gives sui; con contracts mainly as col and coi.

Thesis placement in essays

A constructed response should state its central claim explicitly in the introduction, then defend it with two or three developed points before a concluding synthesis rather than a mere restatement.

Italian formal letter conventions

Open with Gentile or Egregio plus title and surname; close with Cordiali saluti or Distinti saluti. Avoid contractions and emotional appeals; use Lei forms and impersonal constructions.

Analytic rubric structure

Analytic rubrics score separate traits such as content, organization, language accuracy, and range. A response must reach an acceptable level on every trait, since strengths cannot compensate for a failing trait.

Cohesion through substitution

Italian academic prose avoids repetition by using pronouns (esso, ne, ci), synonyms, and discourse markers such as inoltre, tuttavia, pertanto, and in conclusione to link sentences and paragraphs.

Argument and counterargument

High-scoring opinion responses acknowledge an opposing view, concede its valid point, then refute it with a concrete example, statistic, or logical consequence before restating the thesis.

Register in constructed responses

Formal Italian written register favors subordination, impersonal si constructions, and connectives over short main clauses and colloquial vocabulary; consistency of register is scored under language control.

Time budgeting for timed writing

Allocate roughly twenty percent of time to planning, sixty percent to drafting the body, and twenty percent to revision, reserving the final minutes for checking agreement, auxiliaries, and mood.

Self-editing checklist

Before submitting, verify adjective-noun agreement, correct auxiliary with each past tense, congiuntivo after opinion verbs, consistent narrative tense, and correct spelling of accented forms.

Hard and soft c and g

C and g are soft before e and i (ciao, gelato) and hard before a, o, u; the digraphs ch and gh restore the hard sound before e and i, as in chiave and ghiaccio.

Palatal consonants gli and gn

Gli represents the palatal lateral sound in figlio and aglio; gn represents the palatal nasal in gnocchi and bagno. Both differ clearly from the plain l and n sequences.

Geminate consonants

Italian double consonants are held noticeably longer and change meaning: pala versus palla, casa versus cassa, fato versus fatto. Mispronouncing length can obscure the word entirely.

Italian stress placement

Most words are stressed on the penultimate syllable; final stress is marked with a written accent, as in città, caffè, università, and perché. Unmarked accents never appear on final vowels except in monosyllables.

Accent distinguishes monosyllables

Written accents separate homographs: è (is) versus e (and), dà (gives) versus da (from), sì (yes) versus si (oneself), né (nor) versus ne (of it).

Raddoppiamento fonosintattico

A stressed monosyllable or certain words trigger lengthening of the following initial consonant in speech, so a casa sounds like accasa and è vero like èvvero.

Numbers ventuno and ventotto

Compounds with venti drop the final i before uno and otto: ventuno, ventotto, trentuno, trentotto. Other numbers keep it: ventidue, ventitré, venticinque.

Speaking rubric criteria

Oral scores typically weigh comprehensibility, fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary range, and grammatical control. Errors that interfere with meaning lower scores more than minor slips that do not.

ACTFL proficiency levels

The scale runs Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Superior, Distinguished, each with low, mid, and high sublevels for the first three, describing what learners can do with the language.

Communicative competence components

Canale and Swain describe grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence. Instruction and assessment should address all four rather than grammar alone.

Comprehensible input hypothesis

Krashen holds that acquisition occurs when learners receive input slightly beyond their current level (i+1) and their affective filter is low, allowing them to process meaning.

Formative versus summative assessment

Formative assessment gathers evidence during instruction to adjust teaching; summative assessment measures achievement at the end of a unit or course and typically yields a grade.

Authentic materials in instruction

Menus, schedules, news clips, and advertisements give learners real language use. Teachers select them by matching text difficulty, length, and vocabulary to the learners' proficiency level.

Italian unification date

Italy became a single state in 1861, with Rome added in 1870. The standard language derives from Tuscan literary usage, while regional languages remain widely spoken.

Italian regions and autonomy

Italy has twenty regions; five hold special autonomy: Sicilia, Sardegna, Trentino-Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and Valle d'Aosta. Rome is the capital and the president is head of state.

Canonical Italian authors

Dante wrote the Divina Commedia, Petrarca the Canzoniere, Boccaccio the Decameron, Manzoni I promessi sposi, and Leopardi the Canti; Pirandello and Calvino represent modern prose.