Remis wrote:Quick phonology question: are there any specific rules for pronouncing
-io and
-ia? Like, are they always pronounced as separate syllables (i-o, i-a) or are they sometimes pronounced as something akin to
yo &
ya, and if so, are there any rules for when?
Thanks in advance
Yes, I think there is some kind of rule. When found alone ia and io are read as ya and yo. The accent can be on the i or on the a/o, but I don't really know the rules for this. But then, it depends on which letters come before them.
For example:
-cia: is read as cha (la faccia, face), you don't really hear the i
-chia: is read as kìa (chiamare, to call)
Same thing for
-cio ---- cho (il ciondolo, necklace), you don't really hear the i here, either
-chio ---- kio (il chiodo, nail - not the body part)
This has more to do with letters such as "c" and "g", who can be pronounced soft or hard.
Soft-cia: cha
-ce/cie: che
-ci: chi
-cio: cho
-ciu: chu
Hard-ca: ka
-che: ke
-chi: ki
-co: ko
-cu: ku
I hope that helps, but I'm really bad at explaining things about my own language!
fgpc wrote:Under what circumstances are we supposed to use these tenses?
I know that the conditional is used for possibilities, and subjunctive for opinions/non-facts but how and when are they used, especially as modals?
Practically, how would a phrase such as "I should have spoken" be structured in Italian?
I'd like it if you would help me.
Mi piacerebbe se tu potessi aiutarmi. (?)
Grazie.
This is a very hard question, I wouldn't know how to explain this.
I can tell you that many Italians make these kind of mistakes on a regular basis and sometimes they're not even aware of the fact that it's a mistake. That sucks, I know :0
I should have spoken - Avrei (verb to have) dovuto (participle of "must") parlare.
I should speak - Dovrei parlare.
Your sentence "Mi piacerebbe se tu potessi aiutarmi" is unusual, but grammatically perfect (:
Again, I know I haven't been really exhaustive, but I hope it helps, even in the slightest!