The most common mistake in Italian

Hi, everybody! I am Luca and this is a podcast aimed at learners of Italian.

I've added Italian and English subtitles. If you prefer, you can turn them on.

In this brief video lesson I'd like to talk about an error which is very often made. If you are studying or learning Italian as a foreign language, chances are you make this mistake.

But don't worry! This error is actually really easy to fix. The problem is that in most Italian language courses this thing is not explained.

The error is related to nouns ending in "-zione" and "-sione" and it essentially lies in saying things such as: "questi espressioni". Or: "questi azioni". Or: "questi raccomandazioni". Or: "questi dichiarazioni". Or: "questi emozioni".

This error in... This error invol... This error... - what (beep)!

This error involves first and foremost plural forms, but some people who learned Italian as a foreign language may also say things such as: "questo espressione", "questo azione", "questo raccomandazione", "questo dichiarazione", "questo emozione" and so on. That is, they make this mistake with singular forms too.

All these forms are wrong, because all nouns ending in "-zione" and "-sione" are feminine (with no exceptions). This is true for all nouns ending with the suffix "-zione" or "-sione".

Therefore, given that these nouns are feminine, we should use a feminine adjective. So I can' say "questi espressioni", I should say: "queste espressioni".

Why? Because "espressione" is a (grammatically) feminine noun, so I should use the feminine adjective "queste" (ending in E).

Similarly, I can't say "questi azioni", but I should say: "queste azioni".

Similarly, I can't say "questi dichiarazioni", I should say: "queste dichiarazioni".

And likewise I can't say "questi raccomandazioni", but I should say: "queste raccomandazioni".

The noun "emozione" is feminine too and so I should say "queste emozioni" and so on.

Well, I've given you just five examples. However, this applies to all nouns ending in "-zione" or "-sione".

The same applies to singular forms.

I can't say "questo espressione", I should say: "questa espressione".

Similarly, I can't say "questo azione", I should say: "questa azione".

And likewise I can't say "questo raccomandazione", I should say "questa raccomandazione".

The same applies to the noun "dichiarazione". I should say: "questa dichiarazione".

Similarly, I should say "questa emozione".

Please keep in mind that, more often than not, especially in speaking, the A in "questa" is removed, if it is followed by a word starting with a vowel.

For example, if we have "questa" and next "azione", the A in "questa" is removed, we add an apostrophe and say "quest'azione".

The same applies to a noun such as "emozione". We usually say "quest'emozione", we don't say "questa emozione".

For the sole reason that it allows a more fluid pronunciation.

This mostly applies to spoken Italian and to nouns starting with A.

In any case, what you should remember is that with these nouns you should use feminine adjectives. Why? Because these nouns are feminine.

If you want to learn more about the suffixes "-zione" and "-sione", some time ago I published a video lesson dedicated to this topic.

In that video lesson I explain in more detail these two suffixes and in particular I explain why in some nouns we use the suffix "-zione" with Z, while in others we use the suffix "-sione" with S.

Up here I'm going to add a card to it. If you wish to speak Italian fluently, check it out!