Ciao! Lockdown is a perfect time to learn languages.
I've been studying Italian from scratch at university since October, and it's been quite easy. However, I've been studying French for ages and the languages have a strong lexical similarity. I would start by learning the alphabet; this way, you'll learn the sounds of each letter. Italian is phonetic, so it means every letter is pronounced. Let's look at ciao: c becomes soft before i, a is like b
at, and o is like n
or in a northern accent. Together it's like chow. Next, I recommend the subject pronouns and present tense. The subject pronouns are io, tu, lui/lei/Lei, noi, voi, loro/Loro (Lei and Loro capitalised is the formal version of you). Verbs in Italian are straightforward – 3 categories: -are, -ere, -ire. They are conjugated thus:
trov
are --> (in the order of the aforementioned subject pronouns) trov
o, trov
i, trov
a, trov
iamo, trov
ate, trov
ano – remove the infinitive ending and add the endings, basically.
prend
ere --> prend
o, prend
i, prend
e, prend
iamo, prend
ete, prend
ono – some lui, voi and loro forms have changed.
dorm
ire --> like -ere verbs, but voi form is dorm
iteHowever, -ire verbs can have the infix of -isc- for all subjects
except noi and voi:
fin
ire --> fin
isco, fin
isci, fin
isce, finiamo, finite, fin
iscono
The rule of thumb for remembering which -ire verb has which conjugation is by looking at the 5th-last letter - is it a vowel? If so, it will have -isc-. Consonant? Normal conjugation like dormire.
The auxiliaries,
essere and
avere, are really important. They are irregular, and without them, you'd struggle a lot.
essere --> sono, sei, è (remember the accent; otherwise you're saying and), siamo, siete, sono.
avere --> ho, hai, ha, abbiamo, avete, hanno
I know this is a lot, but it's quite simple. I recommend this, which I regard as the Italian grammar bible:
http://www.mmdtkw.org/ItalGram.htmlOn a final note, the subject pronouns are rarely stated, only if you're making a distinction, e.g. lui mangia i biscotti mentre lei beve la cioccolata.