When to use "per aver" or "per far"? Ciao! I'm reading some Italian text and sometimes I see sentences that contains "per aver" or "per far". I know the meaning for "per avere" (to have, or for having) and "per fare" (to make, or for making). Why is the "e" missing? Are they typos or some grammatical conjugation that I'm not familiar with?? Grazie mille, - Yan

Could someone translate these 2 sentence about Lorenzo il Magnifico, please? Ciao, I'm reading a text about Lorenzo il Magnifico and the following sentences, I couldn't guess or understand. Could someone translate them into English, please? 1. Egli stesso compone versi in volgare in cui esalta l'amore e la gioventu', tra i quali e' celebre il Trionfo di Bacco e Arianna, che e' un invito a godersi la giovinezza che fugge. 2. Muore nella sua villa di Careggi nel 1492, ricordato da tutti come un uomo eccezionale che ha coperto sapientemente tanti ruoli. Grazie mille!

When to use "prossimo/a" before a noun or after? Ciao, I'm finding out the adjective "prossimo/a" sometimes used before and sometimes after. e.g. "La settimana prossima" or "Il mese prossima" but "il viaggio prossimo." I am aware that some adjective, like "bello/a" comes before a noun while most others comes after. Also a few adjectives such as "vecchio/a" can be before or after a noun, depending on the context. But the word "prossimo", it seems to mean the same whether it's used before or after a noun. Can someone explain (in English), please? Grazie mille, - Yan

Online CD store in Italy? Sorry this is not a language-related question. But I would like to get a hold of a CD of Italian pop music but I cannot find it in the online CD stores I normally use in my country (amazon.co.uk or amazon.de). There seems no amazon.it. Can anyone recommend a reputable on-line CD store in Italy that accepts a credit card and delivers CDs to western Europe (particularly Germany)? Grazie mille!

When to you use "che" and "di" for comparison? Ciao, I learned from Pimsleur that you use "che" and "di" to mean "than" for comparison, depending on the objects used for comparison. It seems to say that when the number is used, "di" is used; but for all others, "che" should be used. e.g. La benzina costa meno di 2 euro. (The gas costs less than 2 euros). e.g. Si guida piu' velocemente in Italia che negli Stati Uniti. But another book has the following sentence: Perche' l'appartamento di Antonio e' piu' grande dell'appartamento di Christine? Why isn't this "e' piu' grande che l'appartament..."? Please explain in English as my Italian is not so good. Grazie mille! - Yan

meaning of "da" as in "da grande"? Ciao, I encountered following sentence: Da grande vuele fare la jiornalista come suo padre. It seems the translation of this is: When she grows up, she wants to be a journalist like her father. I'm not sure about "da grande". "da", according to a dictionary, means "from", "since", "at", "by" or "to" depending on the context but this does not seem to fit to any. What does "da" mean in the sentence? "When", like "quando"? Can anyone give another example of "da" in the same context? Also, is it okay to say the above sentence as following: Quando e' grande, vuole fare la giornalista ... Grazie mille, come sempre.

When to you "O" or "Go" to make a word polite Ok, I'm a native speaker of Japanese but I was unable to answer someone's question on this matter so please help (English is better since other Japanese learners want to know this, too). In Japanese we add "go" or "o" to make a word polite: e.g. Explanation (setumei -> gosetsumei) 説明ー＞ご説明 e.g. Conversation (hanashi -> ohanashi)　話ー＞お話 Is there any rule that I can explain others when to use which one? (Native speakers know by just the sound or by the instinct/experience) but this is not a nice explanation for those who are learning Japanese). Thanks for your help!

Does it make sense to say "se quando"? Ciao! One of my lessons (from Pimsleur) has a sample sentence: E se quando viaggio, prendo una macchina. Its English translation even says "And if when I travel, I take a car", which doesn't make sense "to say "if" and "when" consecutively like that. Is this simply a mistake in my lesson material? Grazie mille.

Too many English words in Italian??? Ciao. Found an interesting article about how so many English words are replacing Italian words and some people are complaining about it... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7608860.stm Any comments from the native speakers on this subject matter? Grazie.